Ascension
by Laura Picken
Summary: Concludes the "Four Winds" series. "The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him." (Revelation 12:9 - NIV)
1. Chapter 1

Four Winds: Ascension

A Castle Fantasy AU

By Laura Picken

This story is in the continuing series of Castle fan fiction based on my fantasy alternate universe story "Four Winds". Honestly...this is the tenth and final story in the series. If you stumbled in here by mistake at *this* point, just go to my author page, look up the Four Winds series, and start at the beginning. You will be hopelessly confused if you don't take the time to get yourself up to speed. Don't worry, this story will be waiting for you when you're done reading the others. Unless you're one of those people who has to read the last page of a book first. In that case...well, good luck.

DISCLAIMER: Castle, Beckett, et al. are property of Andrew W. Marlowe and ABC. The legends and related legendary characters described herein are (mostly) adaptations of my own twisted imagination and should not be taken to reflect the traditions of any particular group. All non-English language phrases are courtesy of Google Translate, so please forgive me if I get anything unintentionally wrong.

Okay, enough business, let the adventure begin!

* * *

Beckett looked up at the clear blue sky above her, tempted to curse the vastness of the site. Some days, looking out at the majesty of the mountain range that surrounded the temple was profound and encouraging, reminding her of the the legacy that she and her friends had inherited and the wisdom and patience of the men who were instructing her in the finer points of that legacy.

And then there were days like this.

"Focus, Lièrén, *please*," Wangchuk, the Tibetan monk who had been her predecessor, seemed to be reaching the end of his usually limitless patience. "Need I remind you that your life might one day hang on your ability to master this particular lesson?"

"No," Beckett sighed as she wiped a light sheen of sweat off her brow. "No, honored one, you don't have to remind me of that." _After all, _she thought, _it's not like I haven't heard the same comment the last three times..._

"I heard that!" Lobsang called back. He switched to his mind-voice, not wanting to waste his precious energy reserves on things like getting up to have a verbal conversation. _Lièrén, my brother would not be pushing you so hard if it were not important..._

Beckett drew in a deep breath of cold, crisp air and let it out slowly, fighting to get her emotions back under control. She felt the Mùshī's presence increase in her mind, easing the frustration, and she latched onto it with the same grateful enthusiasm as if someone had handed her a hot cup of coffee...or a cold beer. _I do understand. __Thank you, honored one._

Lobsang gave her no reply, not wanting to waste further energy. Wangchuk, on the other hand, had no problem with talking to her. "All right," he instructed her, "do you feel your link with the Mùshī? What does it feel like?"

Beckett closed her eyes, pushing herself to find words to describe the sensation. "The connection between us...it feels like a tunnel of energy, with me on one side and the Sìfāng on the other. The Mùshī still does not feel like he's here..."

"That is because the Mùshī *is* the...tunnel between you," snapped Wangchuk, cutting her off. "Now, describe to me the connection between yourself and the Sìfāng."

"Like a tether," said Beckett. "Not a mind-link, but stronger. It feels almost...physical."

"And how is that link being created?"

Beckett parroted the words she had repeated several times already. "Ryan needs to ground himself to the energy of the Earth, then send that energy through Castle to me."

"And what *should* happen at that point?" asked Wangchuk with a weary sigh.

"I get the ability to use Castle's powers for as long as the tether lasts."

"So use them. Light the torch."

Beckett steadied her nerves and concentrated her focus. She put all of her energy into willing the torch to burst into flame, just as she had seen Castle...

"No, no, NO!" exclaimed Wangchuk, breaking Beckett's focus. Lobsang collapsed, conscious but clearly exhausted. And this did *not* make his brother happy. "You *still* do not understand..."

Apparently the fifth failed attempt was the breaking point for Kate Beckett. "What?!" she exclaimed, sharing her mentor's frustration. "What the hell am I missing?"

Wangchuk fought to regain his own patience, racking his brain to try to remember if learning the skills to pass down to his brothers had been this difficult for him. The Lièrén opened his mouth to speak to his protégé, only to have her stop him with a finger to her lips. She turned away from Wangchuk, focusing her entire attention on a conversation she knew only she could hear. _Lièrén_, Ngawang projected into her mind, _I believe I can help. May I examine your memory of the last attempt?_

Beckett was confused by the voice that had entered her mind. _Ngawang?! Your brother isn't making this connection, is he?_

_No_, Ngawang replied. _He sent the last of his energy to me when your last attempt failed. It should be just enough..._

The prophet's mind-voice trailed off, confusing Beckett even further. "Ngawang?!" she called out.

Ngawang crossed the courtyard from his observation seat when he realized that Beckett was no longer listening to his thoughts. "Forgive me, young one. My brother had less energy than I thought."

Beckett connected the fizzle-out to the explanation Wangchuk had been trying to drill into her brain earlier. "And since Lobsang ran out of gas, so did your ability to keep up the mind-link?"

Ngawang nodded...even though his frown of confusion showed that he didn't clearly understand the expression Beckett had used. "That is...correct, young one. May I, as you would say, do my thing?" Beckett nodded, allowing Ngawang back into her mind. The prophet replayed Beckett's memory, copying it into his own. "I see," he announced when he was finished. "I believe I see the difficulty here."

"What is it?" asked Beckett.

"Your mind seems to have broken down the Great Blessing into its five roles," Ngawang replied. "And because you associate each role with one of your friends, when you are asked to take on the role you associate with that friend, you find yourself incapable of doing so. In the depths of your soul, you seem to believe that if you acquire the ability of one of your friends, even for the briefest length of time, that you are killing that friend."

Wangchuk took up the mantle of continuing the explanation, now that he understood the obstacle facing his protégé. "Young one, the Great Blessing is *one* power. It simply manifests itself in different ways. You differentiate yourself from the group in order to protect your friends, when the truth is that the only way the Great Blessing can fully express itself is if you work together, united, as *one*."

Beckett carefully considered the advice of her instructors. "So...what you're saying is that because the same single power fuels all our abilities, then all I really need to use, say, the wizard's abilities, is a strong enough mind-link?"

Wangchuk finally seemed to relax. "Yes, young one. That is exactly what I am saying."

Beckett shook out her muscles in an attempt to loosen and re-warm them up again. She then turned her attention to the Mùshī, who just barely seemed to be able to focus a shred of attention on something other than his own needs. "Honored one," she asked, trying to sound as humble and contrite as she could, "forgive me for my insolence...but is there any chance you've got one more attempt in ya?"

_I think I might be able to handle one more attempt_, Lobsang's mind-voice rang teasingly through her mind. _Since you asked so nicely..._

Beckett smiled broadly and briefly before focusing her thoughts fully on the task at hand. Closing her eyes, she focused on accepting the connection with Jamyang, letting the power flow not just to her, but *through* her. She then opened her eyes with only one thought in her mind: seeing that stupid torch finally topped with a pillar of flame.

The torch lit up less than a second later.

It felt like all the tension in the courtyard had been whisked away by the breeze. Wangchuk gave his protégé a small bow of approval, as did Jamyang. Lobsang collapsed on the tile floor, underneath him, finally allowing himself to feel the full extent of his exhaustion.

And a visitor stood at the entrance to the courtyard, applauding for the performance he had just witnessed. The four conscious temple Guardians tensed slightly, centuries of reflexes kicking in, putting them on alert until they could safely determine whether the visitor was friend or foe.

Kate Beckett, though, recognized the visitor immediately. And she did the first thing she could think of doing when seeing someone she had never thought she would have the chance to see again.

She hugged him.

The visitor returned the hug of *his* old protégé, thrilled to be able to have one last chance to give her one. "Well, well, Kate Beckett the superhero," Roy Montgomery greeted his favorite detective with a smile and a hearty chuckle. "Who'd have thought, huh?"

"I kinda prefer Guardian myself," Beckett replied with a smile. It was then that she noticed how her mentors were still on a heightened state of alert. "It's all right, honored ones," she announced to the monks in the courtyard. "He's with me."

The Guardians stood down, trusting the word of the one who shared their legacy. Beckett then took her old mentor and introduced him to each of the Guardians in turn. The handshakes were casual, but still slightly formal, as each Guardian simply returned the handshake with a quiet not of acknowledgement.

Until Ngawang. The prophet held Montgomery's hand in a firm grip, copying the memories of the life of Roy Montgomery to add to his vast collection. A shadow passed over Ngawang's expression as he released the hand connected to his own. "Deliver your message, spirit," he ordered Montgomery firmly. "Time is of the essence."

Beckett's face fell as she watched the prophet's curt greeting to her old friend. "Roy?" she asked Montgomery, turning to face the man. "What's he talking about?"

"They're coming for you, Kate," Montgomery warned her in a tone that sounded terribly familiar. "They'll be coming for all of you. Soon."

Beckett nodded, understanding the message immediately. There was no need to explain who 'they' were. There was, however, one explanation that, Beckett knew, was absolutely necessary. "Why now?"

"Any animal is at its most dangerous when it is cornered and wounded, Lièrén," Ngawang replied cryptically. "But especially a dragon."

Cornered. Wounded. Dragon. To hear those three words strung together in a sentence was one thing. But to hear them strung together in a sentence in the presence of Roy Montgomery was another thing *entirely*. Beckett's mind was reeling, fighting through a torrent of confused thoughts and conflicting emotions. "Bracken's cornered and wounded?" she asked Ngawang. "How? And why would that push him to come after me?"

"This one you call Bracken, Lièrén," Ngawang replied, "he is not the dragon."

Beckett's eyes widened in surprise. "He's not? Do you know who the Dragon is, then? And why he's going to be coming for us?"

"I do not know who this dragon represents in your world, young one," said Ngawang. "But I do know why he hunts you."

"You do?" asked Beckett. "Tell me."

Ngawang grabbed Beckett by the wrist, pushing a memory to the forefront of her mind. Beckett gasped as she instantly recognized the incident the prophet brought up. "The black fog? It's coming back?"

"The fog will poison your dragon," Ngawang replied, "then use this dragon to launch an attack against you. It must not be allowed to succeed. At *any* cost."

Beckett didn't like where this conversation was heading. Still, she felt compelled to ask, "What will happen if the dragon succeeds?"

Ngawang's face drained of color as a vision hit him with such terrifying, shocking force that it took the assistance of two of his brothers to keep him standing. Even then, it took several tense, precious minutes before the prophet was able to answer Beckett's question.

"If the poisoned dragon emerges victorious, it will mean the end of all things."

* * *

**_Happy Guardian Monday everyone! Don't forget to leave your comments below!_**


	2. Chapter 2

Beckett's eyes opened slowly, adjusting slowly to the morning light that was streaming in from the window over her head. She rolled her head in all directions, trying to work the soreness out of the muscles even with the pillows propping her up into an almost-comfortable position. The smell of the coffee sitting on the end table next to her brought Beckett to full wakefulness. She picked up the cup, grateful for its warmth, then sipped the drink. It was still piping hot, which could only mean one thing. "You can come in now, Castle!"

Castle appeared at the entrance to the bedroom, clad in boxers and carrying his own mug. "How was training?"

"Good," Beckett replied as she sipped her coffee.

Her smile never quite met her eyes, which Castle noticed immediately. He crossed the bedroom and sat at the foot of the bed. "What happened?"

"I...I had a visitor at the temple."

That was not the response Castle had been expecting. "Really? Who was it?"

"Roy Montgomery."

Castle nearly spit out his own coffee. "I take it that it wasn't a social call?"

Beckett shook her head. "He was there to deliver a message."

Castle's face fell right alongside his girlfriend's. "I'm assuming this was not a *good* message..."

"No." Beckett pulled down the hand that wasn't holding Castle's cup, squeezing it with her own free hand. "Rick...he said the dragon was coming for me. For *us*."

"Bracken?!" Castle exclaimed, eyes widening. "But you have a deal with him, don't you?"

Beckett shook her head. "Apparently he's not the boss of the operation."

"He's not?"

"At least, that's what Ngawang told me. He said that the dragon was going to be poisoned at the head and come after us."

"Poisoned? Poisoned how?"

Beckett's face darkened as the memory resurfaced, sending a chill down her spine. "The black fog...whatever it was that possessed Jerry Tyson. That's what's going to poison the dragon."

Castle was fighting to keep a knot of fear from forming in the pit of his stomach. "Well at least we have warning they're coming, so we can prepare."

"Yeah," Beckett agreed, "but how?"

Castle didn't have an answer for his partner...but when the phone rang, he no longer needed one. "Beckett?" She answered the phone, memorizing the address as dispatch gave it to her. "Thanks. We're on our way." As she ended the call, Beckett told Castle, "Get dressed. We've got a body."

That knot finally formed in Castle's stomach. "We?"

Beckett nodded. "Apparently, this one's weird enough that you've been called specifically."

* * *

Esposito paced the entrance to the crime scene alone, with only the uniform standing guard next to him for company as he waited for his partners. Beckett noticed the discrepancy right away. "Where's your other half, Esposito?"

"On the phone," Esposito replied, tilting his head toward a quiet corner of the hallway, where Ryan was clearly waiting to talk to someone. "He says he might know an expert who can help us make sense of what's going on in there."

Castle's interest was piqued immediately. "Wait, we need an expert?"

Esposito did not share Castle's spark of enthusiasm. He looked far more...haunted. "Go see for yourself, man."

Beckett and Castle signed in and passed under the crime scene tape, turning quickly to enter the apartment at the end of the small hallway. The writer immediately understood why Esposito had looked so uncomfortable earlier. "It looks like a scene out of a bad horror movie..." he exclaimed.

The empty studio apartment looked like someone had set off a human rotary sprinkler, the four walls dripping with slowly drying blood. CSU techs ringed the room, taking pictures and documenting every inch of the spray pattern.

Beckett and Castle headed for the center of the room, where Lanie was carefully examining the source of the pattern on the walls. Castle's mouth dropped open as soon as he saw enough of the victim's face to recognize who it was. "Dear God...Cacaw Te..."

Lanie and Esposito both turned their attention to Castle. "You know this guy?" asked Esposito. Castle nodded.

"Yeah," Beckett agreed sadly, "that's him. Remember that mummy case from a couple of years ago?"

Esposito's eyes lit up with recognition. "Oh yeah..."

"How'd he die?" asked Castle.

Lanie stood up, letting some of the blood re-circulate through her legs as she delivered her preliminary findings. "Overkill," she declared.

"Overkill?" asked Castle. "I don't follow."

"Mr. Cacaw Te here," Lanie explained, "was hit over the head, then strangled, *then* had his throat cut. That's what accounts for the extra wall decorations in here."

Castle let out a low whistle of agreement. "Yep, that's definitely overkill."

"Can you tell which one of those is our actual cause of death?" asked Beckett.

"My guess would be the cut to the throat," replied Lanie, "but I won't be sure until I get him back to the lab."

Ryan interrupted their conversation. "Did you say his throat was slashed?"

"Yeah?" asked Lanie, confused at needing to repeat herself.

"After he was hit over the head and strangled?"

The rest of the Guardians joined Lanie in her confusion. "Yeah?"

"With a rope?"

"Probably," said Lanie. "The ligature marks suggest it. Why?"

Ryan ran a hand through his hair, not wanting to believe what he was seeing. "When I first walked into the scene, it reminded me of an old Celtic legend I had heard of in college. My grandfather is getting his degree in Celtic history, so I called him and asked him to verify the legend for me."

"What legend?"

Ryan hesitated, shuddering before he could answer. "The Lindow Man."

"Hey, I know that name," said Castle. "It was this body that got mummified by being sunk in an Irish bog for something like two thousand years..."

Ryan nodded. "The Lindow Man was killed by being first knocked unconscious, then strangled with a rope, then having his throat slashed to drain his blood."

"Just like our vic..." commented Lanie.

Ryan nodded again. "According to the legend, the Lindow Man died as a ritual sacrifice to the Celtic gods in the hopes that those gods would then stop the advancing Roman armies."

"So this was a ritual killing?" asked Castle.

"I think it might be," said Ryan.

"A ritual sacrifice of a *Mayan* man?" mused Beckett. "That can't be a coincidence..."

Lanie, Ryan and Esposito frowned in confusion at their friend's statement. "Coincidence with what, Beckett?"

Beckett tapped her temple, signaling for Ryan to open a mind-link. _I had a training session at the temple last night, _she announced to the group through the mind-link. _Javi?_

Esposito put a hand on Beckett's shoulder, opening up Beckett's memory to the rest of the group...who gasped at the sight of Roy Montgomery and his message. _I see what you mean now, Beckett,_ agreed Castle. _A ritual sacrifice of a Mayan man in the beginning of December? After you get a warning about a poisoned dragon causing the end of the world? This can't be a coincidence..._

_No offense, bro,_ commented Esposito, _but I kinda hope it is._

_Me too, _agreed Ryan.

Beckett's mind was quickly getting distracted away from their mental conversation as her eye started to pick up a pattern in the design of the floor below them. Ryan closed the mind-link, letting Beckett have her privacy to process her 'hunch'.

Castle noticed the growing change in his partner's focus. "What is it, Beckett?"

"The floor..." Beckett mused, "I think there's a pattern in these tiles..." She traced the outline of a circle on the floor, but was frustrated by the items inside the circle that were blocking her attempt to identify the image.

A lightbulb went off in Castle's expression as he came up with an idea to help his partner. "Can we clear the techs out of the room, just for a couple of minutes?" Lanie and Esposito jumped on Castle's request immediately, asking for both the CSU and ME teams to give them some privacy.

When the room was clear of everyone but the Guardians, Castle closed the door to the apartment. "Ryan," he asked, hoping his friend would get the hint, "can you...lift everything straight up off the floor, just long enough for Beckett to see what's underneath it?"

"Won't know until I give it a shot," Ryan shrugged. He closed his eyes, taking in a deep, grounding breath, then opened his eyes as he slowly exhaled. The body started to levitate gradually off the ground, followed piece by piece by every bit of equipment the ME's crew had left within the circle.

Lanie, Esposito and Castle watched the floating section of the crime scene with no small amount of amazement and satisfaction...until it was clear that Beckett was the only one who was looking at the floor. She then directed everyone's attention down to what *she* was seeing.

It was a black and white, Celtic-looking tile mosaic...of a dragon.

Beckett turned her attention back to Castle. "So much for coincidences."

* * *

**_Comments, as always, make me incredibly happy. So would fan mail from Nathan Filion or Andrew Marlowe, but in its absence I would still be perfectly thrilled to get lots of comments: positive, negative or otherwise. ;-) _**


	3. Chapter 3

Beckett taped the blown-up picture of Cacaw Te on the murderboard next to the various gruesome pictures of the ritual crime scene. She then pulled out a dry erase marker, writing the victim's name on the board and drawing the all-important timeline. It was a ritual they all knew well; one that helped the group to mentally step away from the crime scene into the next phase of investigating: collecting all the puzzle pieces they could find. "Do we know why Cacaw Te was in town?" she asked the group.

Esposito nodded. "Just got off the phone with the Mexican consulate. Cacaw Te was supposed to make the media rounds about the 'end of the Mayan calendar' and then return to Mexico on the 19th."

"For the end of the world?" asked Castle.

"Or Christmas with the relatives, whichever came first," Esposito replied with a shrug.

"Well, six of one..." said Castle.

Beckett wisely chose to ignore her partner's comment. "Do we know who owns the apartment?"

"A law firm by the name of...Pendragon, McGintey and Lindermann," Ryan replied. "They use it for short-term housing of lawyers who come into town to help with cases."

"Over the long run it probably costs them less than a high-end Manhattan hotel..." mised Beckett. "Do we know who's been using the apartment?" When Ryan shook his head, Beckett added, "Okay then, guys, take some time today and pay the firm a visit. And lawyers being lawyers...keep your 'eyes and ears' open."

"On it," Ryan and Esposito replied in unison before turning around to head out.

Beckett turned back to sit down at her desk, picking up the victim's wallet from the small box of evidence she had retrieved from CSU. "I'll see if I can track down our victim's financials."

"What can I do?" asked Castle.

As if on cue, the phone on Castle's desk started ringing. Beckett replied with a smile, "you can answer your phone, Castle..."

Castle didn't respond to his partner, choosing instead to follow her directions. "Castle."

* * *

Ryan took in the dark wood paneling of the office as he and his partner got off the elevator. "Man, this place even *smells* rich."

"Yeah, well," Esposito countered, "just remember that guys like these are the ones who sell their souls to the devil to get that way, so..."

Ryan let his partner's comment slide as they got up to the receptionist's desk. "May I help you gentlemen?" the receptionist asked with a frigid politeness.

"NYPD, ma'am," Ryan replied, flashing his badge. "We need to talk to Colin Pendragon or one of the other partners."

"And what is this in regard to, officers?"

"We need to find out if anyone was using the studio apartment on 23rd Street," replied Esposito.

The reception seemed to recognize what Esposito was talking about. She turned toward her computer, telling the detectives, "I have access to that information here. Just a second, and I'll pull it up for you." After a few more keystrokes, the receptionist had their answer. "According to my records, Mr. Pendragon had the apartment reserved for this past week. Strange..."

"What?" asked Ryan.

"Normally, the studio is used by new hires until they find their own place or VIPs who are helping us with big cases. But we haven't hired anybody in the past three months and Mr. Pendragon doesn't have any active clients right now."

Esposito frowned in confusion at the receptionist's last statement. "A partner, with no active clients? That doesn't sound like business was going all that well."

"Business has been as brisk as ever," the receptionist insisted. "It was Mr. Pendragon's call to move his active clients to other counsel."

That information had the ring of case-breaking opportunity to both Ryan and Esposito. "How long ago was this?" asked Esposito.

The receptionist looked up at him, confused. "About a month ago, why?"

"We *really* need to speak to Mr. Pendragon," Ryan insisted with a growing urgency in his voice.

"He's not in the office today," the receptionist informed them. Her voice reinforced Ryan's impression that she was growing increasingly confused and concerned at how the information she had was *not* adding up. "He hasn't been in the office all week."

"Can you give us his home address?" asked Esposito.

The receptionist nodded. She typed another query into the computer, then pulled out a scrap piece of paper and a pen to write down the results. "Here you go, detectives."

Ryan took the piece of paper from the receptionist with a smile. "Thank you." He then looked at the address, immediately coming up with a question for his partner. "Javi, how do you feel about a trip out to Douglaston?"

* * *

Castle hung up the phone with a weary sigh, pulling out the cord to try to give himself a moment's peace. Beckett couldn't help but notice her partner's clear frustration. "That bad?"

"I have been on the phone for an *hour*," Castle replied. "I think I must have fielded calls from every single precinct in the city."

"Nah," Beckett countered, "you'd still be on the phone."

"Then at least every precinct in Manhattan. And *every* call was about some mystical ritual-based murder that's happened in the last 24 hours."

Beckett's eyes widened as she considered the scope of the numbers they were talking about. "That's almost two dozen murders...were they all Celtic?"

Castle shook his head. "No, that's just it. Almost every one was based in a different culture. Native American, Chinese, ancient Tibetan, Hindi, even Viking and ancient Egyptian. And that's just off my last page of notes..."

"They can't have all been committed by one person," mused Beckett.

"But they can't be a coincidence either," countered Castle. "Not this many."

"No," Beckett agreed, "you're right, they can't be a coincidence. But is there a link between the cases?"

Castle shook his head again. "Nothing I can tell on first glance, but we can't possibly work on two dozen murder cases all at the same time."

"Still, we can talk to Gates, ask her to get us copies of the files. If there's a pattern between the cases, then the sooner we find it..."

"The sooner we might have an idea exactly what we're up against," said Castle. Beckett nodded in agreement.

* * *

Ryan and Esposito pulled up to the home of their person of interest, carrying on the conversation that began as they were making the long drive out to the wealthy Queens neighborhood. "So we're on, then? Our Christmas tradition comes back with a vengeance, just moved back three days?" asked Esposito.

"Yeah, man. I missed our Madden marathon last year," Ryan replied with a smile. "It'll be good to get a guy's day..."

"And your...wife is going to be okay with this?"

Ryan blew off his partner's question. "Jenny's gonna go hang out with her family from day after Christmas right through New Year's Eve. She'll have plenty of family helping her with Alexis out here."

Esposito stopped halfway up the walkway, catching on to what his partner *wasn't* saying. "And...you're not going to be *with* her when she visits her family?"

Ryan's eyes shifted away from his partner's gaze. "I'm...not exactly welcome around certain members of my wife's side of the family anymore."

Esposito sighed, his mind filling in the blanks with what he remembered of his 'niece's' birth. "Your mother-in-law?"

"Let's just say she's the only woman I know who fondly wishes for society to throw back to the days of the Salem Witch Trials."

"Jesus," Esposito exclaimed, hating to hear that his partner had any member of his family who was that scared of him. "That sucks, man."

"Yeah," Ryan agreed. Guilt and frustration was written all over his face. "So we on?"

Esposito replied to his partner's offer with a smile and a fist bump. "Hell yeah, bro."

The matter settled, Ryan turned to knock on Colin Pendragon's door...but it creaked open slowly under his fingers. Erring on the side of potential danger, the two men pulled out their service weapons, each of them chambering a round and removing their safeties. As the two men moved to enter the house, Esposito stopped his partner with a hand on his arm. _Bro_? he asked, hoping the mind-link between them was open.

_Yeah_? asked Ryan.

_Do you think we should call Castle?_

Ryan reached out with his mind, looking for the man they had driven out to see. What he found told him that their shield and their service weapons were no longer necessary. "Not yet. Either no one's here and they just left the door open..."

"Not likely," said Esposito.

"...or anyone who *is* here is...in a position where I'm unable to read them."

Esposito nodded, understanding his partner's meaning immediately...and never putting away his live weapon. "Let's clear the place, make sure it's the first possibility and not the second."

Ryan nodded, unholstering his own weapon. They cleared the first floor room by room, finding it empty. _Upstairs_? asked Esposito.

_Yeah, let's give it a shot_, agreed Ryan.

After clearing the second floor, Esposito finally decided to holster his weapon. "Maybe I was wrong," he told his partner. "Maybe the guy did just leave his door open."

Ryan found himself inclined to agree. "It's definitely possible, unless there's a basement in this house that we haven't checked yet..."

Esposito and Ryan locked eyes, their thoughts so similar they didn't need the mind link to know that they were thinking the same thing. They sprinted down the stairs with weapons drawn, heading back to the kitchen. Esposito opened the three doors that they had not checked earlier.

The first led to a coat closet.

The second led to a walk-in pantry.

The third door opened to an unlighted staircase. The smell that wafted up from the basement was...unmistakable. "Ryan!" he called out to his partner.

Ryan came up behind his partner, catching the smell immediately. "Sorry man, I think we're on to the other option..."

"Yeah," Esposito added somberly. He led his partner down the stairs to the basement, where they found the source of the smell: five men, dressed in flowing black and white robes...lying dead on top of a painted version of the dragon from the apartment.

Ryan pulled out his cell phone and headed back up the stairs. "I'll call in the rest of the troops."

Esposito numbly followed his partner's lead. "Yeah. Yeah, call it in."

* * *

**_All comments welcome!_**


	4. Chapter 4

Castle and Beckett pulled up to the manicured lawn and posh estate of their victims, where let out a low whistle as he gawked at the homes surrounding him. "Wow," he exclaimed, "I never thought Queens has houses this...this..."

Beckett rolled her eyes even as she smiled at her partner. "I believe the word you're looking for is rich, Castle? You clearly need to get out of Manhattan a little more often..."

Castle smirked at his partner. "Ha. Ha. Very funny."

The partners ducked under the crime scene tape to meet up with the rest of their team. "So what do we got?" asked Beckett.

Ryan and Esposito met Beckett and Castle at the door to the house, informing them of the situation as they headed toward the basement. "When we went to the law firm," Ryan began, "we found out that the studio apartment had been reserved by one of the firm's partners, Colin Pendragon."

"Pendragon?" asked Castle, picking up on the name. "That's an old Celtic name."

Esposito picked up the story. "One month ago Mr. Pendragon started handing off all of his active clients off to other attorneys, and a week ago he stopped going into the office. The door was open when we got here, which is when we found this."

Beckett and Castle took in the scene before them in the basement. While Castle wandered around, taking in as many details of the scene as he could, Beckett couldn't help but notice that the scene included an unusually irritable medical examiner. "Everything ok, Lanie?"

Lanie sighed loudly, pinching the bridge of her nose to try and relieve her stress. "Sorry, guys. We've just gotten *incredibly* swamped downtown."

"So I heard," Castle agreed sympathetically. "All ritual kills?"

Lanie nodded. "At least as far as Sid and I can tell. You've been getting calls?"

"Yeah," Castle sympathized. "We just got through asking Captain Gates to help us get all the files together when we got the call."

"What can you tell me about *these* guys?" asked Beckett.

"Time of death within the past four hours," Lanie replied. "Which means they died after your Mr. Cacaw Te this morning."

"You seem pretty sure the two cases are connected," said Castle.

Lanie didn't miss a beat, shifting her attention toward her best friend. "I had just finished his autopsy when I got the call to come here. And honey, if I can smell it, I just figured it must be driving you *crazy*..."

"It? You mean that evergreen smell?" asked Beckett. "I just figured it was someone going heavy on the air freshener."

"It's mistletoe," Lanie informed them.

Castle's expression clearly showed his surprise and confusion. "Mistletoe? Didn't they know they were supposed to kiss *under* the mistletoe, not eat it and *then* kiss?"

Lanie ignored Castle's comment. "On top of the many ways our killer went after Mr. Te, I found mistletoe seeds in his stomach. Unless I miss my guess, that pitcher is filled with tea made from the stuff."

Beckett noticed the ornate cups near each of the victims and the pitcher that Lanie mentioned. She sniffed discretely at the cups, filtering out the scents to pick out the one scent that, underneath everything else, was bugging her. "There was human blood in this cup as well," she commented. "I think it's Cacaw Te's."

"How can you tell?" asked Castle.

She handed the chalice to a CSU tech to be bagged as she explained, "it's definitely human blood, of that much I'm sure. But the smell...it's just a little *too* similar to the smell at the apartment this morning. You'll send it for a DNA match to be sure?"

Lanie nodded. "I also need to let you guys know that there are no ligature marks on any of the victims and no signs of a struggle."

"This whole thing feels like a mass suicide," said Castle.

"That could be what it is," chimed in Esposito. He was standing near a large, ancient-looking book sitting on a pedestal tucked in the corner of the room. "Come here and take a look at this."

Beckett and Castle maneuvered their way around the techs and the circle of bodies to look over their partner's shoulders. "Uh, Esposito," Beckett quietly warned the younger detective, "this is in Gaellic."

Esposito took a second look at the ancient text, surprised by Beckett's statement. "It is? Wow..." After a brief pause, his eyes lit up as he recalled where he must have picked up the language. "Last St. Patrick's Day, Ryan and I went over to this great Irish pub to get a beer. Guess I picked up a little more than I thought...anyway, this page gives the directions for a spell to stop the end of the world. And it describes what went on here *exactly*."

Beckett wanted to check out this book for herself...but she needed some help to make that happen. "Castle? Would you mind?" Castle waved a hand over the book, casting a translation spell that allowed them to read what Esposito had discovered. Beckett then read the content in the translated document for herself. "Basically, it says that if you want to stop the end of days from coming you make a sacrifice to the gods and drink the blood of that sacrifice mixed with mistletoe while you chant this spell."

"So they probably sacrificed Cacaw Te to cover all their bases, since he was Mayan..." said Esposito.

"And if the blood *is* his it means that someone in here is most likely our killer," said Beckett.

That left Castle with only one question. "Yeah, but if you've done everything you needed to to stop the apocalypse, then why kill yourself?"

"They probably didn't," Lanie announced to the group. As they turned their attention back to the center of the room, Lanie then explained, "only certain kinds of mistletoe are lethally poisonous, and even then only certain parts of the plant. So if these guys just thought that all mistletoe was the same, it's *extremely* likely that they just didn't know that the drink they were making was going to kill them."

"So that's it, then?" asked Castle. "Cacaw Te was killed so these guys could prevent the apocalypse only to have their apocalypse-preventing ritual kill them?"

"Don't sound so disappointed, Castle," Beckett teased. "There are still a couple dozen more ritual killings for us to tackle..."

Beckett's comment stopped Ryan and Esposito in their tracks. "Did you say two *dozen*?!" asked Ryan.

"Yep," said Castle. "And don't worry. Captain Gates said she's going to have all the files waiting for us when we get back."

Ryan and Esposito groaned with dread at the mountain of paperwork that now awaited them on their return to the precinct. "Great," said Esposito through clenched teeth. "Just great..."

Esposito started looking around the basement and up at the ceiling...moves which his partner noticed immediately. "Bro," asked Ryan, "what are you doing?"

"If the world's going to end, I was kinda hoping it would come now, so I didn't have to spend my last day on earth doing paperwork..."

* * *

Two hours later, Esposito sat back in his conference room chair, flinging his pen down on the table with a frustrated sigh. "I think I can safely say that if the end of the world *is* coming, we're going to die buried in case files."

Gates entered the conference room, hoping for an update. "Any luck finding a connection between these murders?"

"Not much," replied Beckett, mirroring her teammate's frustrated sigh. "The only thing we have so far is that one of two symbols seems to have shown up at every crime scene." She pointed to the two piles they had made on the table. "Either a black sun...or a dragon." As to what the symbols mean...we don't know yet."

Gates frowned at the group, confused. "I thought the dragon was Celtic?"

"It is," Esposito replied, "so's the black sun. But there are different representations of the same two symbols in just about every culture."

"Well, the dragon is usually a symbolic source of power, isn't it?" asked Gates, sitting down in an empty chair.

"True," said Ryan. Beckett answered her vibrating cell phone as Ryan started reading from his notes, "but they're also associated with wisdom and longevity, where the black sun seems mostly to be associated with endings and death."

Gates took the information she was given and ran with it. "So the dragon murders are probably trying to stop this 'end of days' while the black sun murders are trying to get it going..."

"But that's just it," Castle added. "The murders, except for the Celtic group in Douglaston, all have the same human sacrifice type of feel to them. If there's something else that differentiates their intentions it's not in these files."

Beckett ended her phone call, repeating the topic of the call to the group. "Unfortunately, it looks like there might be another one to add to the pile. A body's been found in the Tropic Zone of the Central Park Zoo. It may be another ritual kill."

* * *

Castle looked up at the sea lions with his usual boundless curiosity. "Is it me," he asked, "or is that sea lion staring at me?"

"It's just you," replied Beckett with her usual mix of amusement and boundless patience. "C'mon Castle, we need to get in there."

Castle shrugged, turning away from the sea lion exhibit...only to have the sea lion in question follow him. He stopped and turned slowly back toward the exhibit to find the sea lion staring at him again. "Beckett!" he called to his partner in a loud stage whisper.

Beckett sighed as she turned around to respond to her partner...again. "Yes, Castle?"

"Tell me that sea lion isn't staring at me!"

"That sea lion isn't staring at you," Beckett replied matter-of-factly.

Castle rolled his eyes, annoyed that his partner wasn't listening to him. "No, Beckett," he countered with his own attempt at patience, "could you just *look* at the sea lion and tell me it's not staring at me?"

Beckett turned patiently, to placate her partner, and looked at the sea lion exhibit. "No," Beckett replied firmly to her partner's question, "the sea lion's not staring at you."

"It's not?"

"Nope." Castle's face fell with it's customary child-like disappointment...until he saw the slightest hint of curiosity pass across his partner's face. "I think it's staring at Ryan..." she finally commented with a clear level of surprise to her voice.

That stopped the group in their tracks. Having ignored Castle and Beckett's earlier teasing, he was confused by the way that his friends were looking at him. "What?"

"Ryan," Castle replied, "that sea lion is staring at you."

Ryan frowned at Castle in disbelief. "No way..." He turned to find that the sea lion was, indeed, staring at him. A barking sound persisted at the edge of his mind, and he turned to the left and right, scanning the area to make sure that what he heard he wasn't hearing with his ears. When Ryan realized that not only were none of the sea lions barking, but that the staring sea lion had been mimicking his movements exactly, he opened his mind to try and connect with the animal.

The barking quickly turned into a persistent stream of words. _Is it them? I thought it was them. The turtles said someone would come help us. Are they them?_

Ryan blinked and shook his head from the shock. Esposito noticed his partner's physical response. "What is it, bro?"

"I...I think I can hear him..." replied Ryan in amazement.

The sea lion jumped up and used his foreflippers to applaud. _YOU CAN HEAR ME?!_

Ryan nearly fell over at the sea lion's enthusiastic response in his mind. _Yes..._he replied, amazed, _I can hear you._

_So you are them?_

_Who's them? _asked Ryan.

_The ones who will save us from the big bad black thing..._

* * *

**_Don't forget, comments make for a happy writer, and happy writers write faster!_**


	5. Chapter 5

Ryan linked the rest of his friends into his conversation before asking the sea lion, _you've seen the black fog?_

The sea lion nodded. _Yeah, it was scary. The tortoises know more about it than me, though._

_The...tortoises_? asked Esposito, amazed that he was asking questions to a sea lion.

_Yeah_, the sea lion replied, _they're really old. They know lots of stuff..._

_Did you see people going into the Tropic House last night_? asked Beckett.

The sea lion shook his head. _No. Sorry. _

Ryan nodded quickly. _Thank you._

_Welcome_! replied the sea lion with a smile as he dove under the water.

Beckett watched the sea lion depart, then focused on regrouping her team. "Okay, that was..."

"Unexpected," said Ryan, completing his boss' thought.

"And it means we need to change our plans slightly. Castle and I will focus on the crime scene. Ryan, you and Esposito canvas the animals. Find out if any of them know anything about the black fog or the body. Start with the tortoises if you can get to them, but above all *don't get caught*. The last thing I want to have do is explain what we just witnessed..."

"You got it," Ryan and Esposito responded in unison before the four of them turned and continued on their path to the crime scene.

* * *

Castle and Beckett hacked their way through an obstacle course of green and white streamers after ducking under the yellow crime scene tape. "What's with all the streamers?" asked Castle.

A junior detective escorted the pair deeper into the building. "The building was closed to prepare for a press conference this afternoon. Apparently they were re-introducing a couple of rare snakes into the exhibit. Anyway, around 11am, when the volunteers opened up the building to prep for the press conference, they found...this."

The detective stopped at the railing, while Castle and Beckett climbed over it to begin their examination of the crime scene. Their first stop, as usual, was with the medical examiner. "So what do we have here, Doctor Perlmutter?" asked Beckett.

"Well, Detective," replied Perlmutter, "apparently whoever decided to kill our Mr...Douglas Tripp here decided to do it the *really* old fashioned way." He pointed to the large open incision in the victim's midsection. "Our vic was secured and cut open, then the killer sliced open the diaphragm and pulled out the victim's heart through the opening...while it was still beating."

Castle and Beckett both winced, absently rubbing their chests as Perlmutter described the cause of death. "Any idea on the time of death?" asked Beckett.

"Between 5 and 9 this morning," Perlmutter replied. "I'll be able to narrow it down a little further when I get him back to the lab."

"Thanks, doc," said Beckett. It was then that she noticed the black sun symbol carved into the 'stone' table used as an altar. She pointed out the symbol to her partner. "Apparently this was an 'expediting' sacrifice..."

Castle nodded. "So whoever did this wants to bring about the end of the world...but why?"

"And what does the black fog have to do with it?" asked Beckett.

* * *

Esposito stayed as close to the exhibit's railing as he could, doing everything in his power to keep from bumping into any of the techs entering or leaving the scene of the human sacrifice. _You're sure no one can see us_? he asked his partner.

_Technically_, replied Ryan.

Esposito's eyes narrowed, not trusting his partner's response. _Define 'technically'._

_They *might* see two men looking at the tortoises_, Ryan explained, _but before their brain can recognize us, their next thought will be to look elsewhere._

Esposito shrugged, trusting in his partner's ability to pull that off. Mostly. _Are you sure you can handle that *and* talk to the animals?_

_Won't know until I give it a shot_, Ryan shrugged. He turned his attention to the tortoises...who all seemed to be turned toward him with what looked like bowed heads. Ryan stood there for what felt, to Esposito, like an eternity...trying to figure out how to start a conversation with a tortoise. Finally, Ryan decided to connect to all six of the tortoises and greet them all at once. _Excuse me?_

The tortoise closest to the two Guardians nodded its head. _O honored Hunahpu and Xbalanque, how may we serve you?_

Esposito frowned in confusion at the tortoise's greeting. _What did you call us?_

The tortoise's mind-voice soon shared Esposito's confusion. _Are you not the hero twins of old? You glow like I always thought you would..._

_Glow_? asked Ryan, now confused himself. _You can see our auras?_

_I do not know auras, _the tortoise replied, _but you do glow. Other men do not glow as you do._

Esposito was growing frustrated. _At this speed_, he grumbled, _the world's going to end before we get anything useful out of this..._

Ryan turned his attention to his impatient partner. _Do you have any better ideas?_

As Esposito glanced between his partner and the animals they were talking to, he came up with an idea. _Yep. If I go into the enclosure, can you cover me?_

Ryan nodded...warily. _I...think so. What are you thinking?_

_Your ability works on these animals_, Esposito shrugged, _so maybe mine does too._

Understanding his partner's point, Ryan followed his partner, who had already jumped into the pond below them. He focused entirely on projecting a perception filter around them while Esposito knelt down beside the tortoise, laying one hand on its shell and one hand on the beast's slender neck.

After a few quiet, still moments where Esposito and the tortoise seemed frozen in place together, the Guardian pulled his hands away from the tortoise and bowed his head. _Thank you for your assistance, Nacon. _

_You are welcome, _nodded the tortoise.

Ryan and Esposito jumped to the top of the enclosure, hanging on the railing until a space cleared enough for them to pull themselves over the railing and out. Pulling back the perception filter, he turned to his partner. "So I guess that worked, huh?"

"Yep." Not wanting to discuss his findings out in the open, he tapped his temple to indicate to his partner that he wanted to keep their conversation to a mind-link. _The tortoises are on loan from a Mexican zoo. Apparently Mexican kids would talk to the animals pretending to be this set of superhero twins from an old Mayan legend. So when he saw our auras he thought *we* were those twins._

_Hunahpu and Xbalanque_? asked Ryan. Esposito nodded.

They joined up with Castle and Beckett, who were wrapping up their examination of the body and the surrounding scene. Ryan asked them, "So how'd it go?"

"Very old school human sacrifice," Castle replied, wincing uncomfortably at the memory. "Guy's heart was ripped out of his chest while he was still alive."

"Ouch," agreed Ryan. "Does it fit the pattern?"

Castle nodded. "Black sun."

"So did you guys find out anything useful?" asked Beckett.

Esposito nodded. "Apparently Ryan and I might match up with an ancient Mayan legend."

"Another legend..." groaned Castle, rolling his eyes.

"Hey, the last one worked out pretty well for you, wizard-boy," teased Beckett. Her tone quickly became more serious as she added the evidence of their current case to what she remembered of the other cases. "The Mayans seem to be coming up a lot in this case. Maybe we should track down an expert on the Mayan culture...see if they can help us start putting these pieces together."

The other three Guardians nodded in agreement.

* * *

The Museum of Natural History was a mix of dim lights and odd, lengthening shadows as the building closed down for the day...save for four people. Castle, Beckett, Ryan and Esposito fought through the crowds leaving the museum for the day, heading from the entrance back to the Mexico and Central America exhibit. "This guy you talked to, Ryan," said Esposito, "he's going to meet us at the exhibit entrance?"

Ryan nodded. "When I told him we needed help with an ongoing police investigation he promised he'd stay late and answer as many questions as he could." A third security guard stopped the group, and Ryan answered him as he had the other two. Flashing his badge, Ryan told the man, "NYPD. We're here to see a Dr. Jose Huchim."

The security guard nodded. "Dr. Huchim let me know you were coming. Go through the Asia exhibit; he's waiting for you at the entrance."

Ryan nodded, acknowledging the change in information from the previous guards. "Thank you." The security guard nodded again quickly before turning the his attention back to making sure the rest of the crowds left the building.

The group walked quickly through the exhibit to find a small, older, Hispanic-looking man pacing at the doors between exhibits. Ryan tapped quickly into the man's mind, just enough to confirm that he was, indeed, the man they were looking for. "Dr. Huchim?"

The older man stopped in his tracks and looked up, immediately recognizing the voice of the man calling his name. "Detective Ryan?"

Ryan shook the man's hand. "You said you might be able to help us?"

Huchim nodded. "Let's go back to my office."

The group followed Huchim as he strode purposefully through the exhibit and opened a back door with his ID card. Beckett blinked against the drastic change in lighting as their environment changed from the dark, spacious corridors of museum exhibits to the fluorescent lights and tight spaces of an office environment. And it was only when Huchim entered this environment that he started speaking. "Now, Detective, you told me that you're investigating two murders, both of which have links to ancient Mayan culture?"

Beckett nodded. "The first case was a Mayan man who was ritually sacrificed in a Celtic ceremony."

The group stopped when they reached Huchim's office. "I see," he said as he tapped his ID against a pad, opening the door. "And the second case?"

"The second case was a more traditional sacrifice: a man who had his abdomen cut open and his heart ripped out through his diaphragm," explained Beckett.

"Is that a traditional way for the Mayans to perform their sacrifices?" asked Ryan.

Dr. Huchim shook his head. "No, that was the Aztecs...although I'm not surprised you may have thought that." He sat down at his desk and invited his guests to do the same; Beckett and Ryan sat down, while Castle and Esposito stood behind them. "What has led you to believe the two cases are connected?"

"These cases are two in a series of murders that have popped up all over the city," said Beckett. "All of them were ritual human sacrifices, and although the cultures varied widely, one of two symbols was found at each crime scene: either a dragon..."

"...or a black sun?" asked Dr. Huchim in a shocked gasp.

Beckett nodded. "Yes. Do you recognize the symbolism?"

Dr. Huchim nodded weakly. "Whomever it is that you're chasing, Detectives...they have an extensive grasp of Mayan history. The legend they're working from is far from widely known."

Beckett and Ryan leaned forward, intent on getting the information they had come for. "What legend is that, Dr. Huchim?" asked Beckett.

"You're aware of the mistaken belief that December 21st will be the end of the Mayan calendar, and thus, the end of the world?" When Beckett and Ryan both nodded, Dr. Huchim continued, "your killers, evidently, didn't get the memo. The legend they're working from is straight out of the end of the world playbook. According to this legend, at the *true* end of the Mayan Calendar, the world will...I believe this is the colloquial way of putting it...go straight to hell?"

"How so?" asked Castle.

Dr. Huchim tilted his head up toward the writer, focusing on him as he continued his explanation. "To make a long story short, the Mayan underworld, according to legend, became a place of insignificance after its rulers were defeated by the hero twins, who became the sun and the moon. And according to the legend your killers are following, when the sun and the moon go out, those gods will get the chance to get their power back. Your killers are taking sides in this battle: the dragon is the symbol of the senior death god Hun-Came, and the black sun is the symbol of the lesser death god Vucub-Came. Whoever wins will rule both Xibalba and the Earth and will combine the two realms into one."

"Is there any way to stop this from happening?" asked Castle.

Huchim broke into a sad smile. "Apart from trying to convince one or more crazy serial killers that the world really *isn't* coming to an end? This is a *legend*, Detectives. It's not going to come true."

"Humor me," Castle insisted. "Hypothetically."

"Hypothetically?" asked Dr. Huchim, his voice dripping with skepticism. "All right...*Hypothetically*, you'd have three points to stop the legend from becoming reality: first, you'd have to stop the sun and the moon from going out...whatever way that could happen. If you didn't do that, then you'd have to stop the Death Gods from moving from Xibalba to Earth. And if you couldn't do that, then you'd have to defeat them. And unless you know how to contact the Mayan Hero Twins Hunahpu and Xbalanque, there's no other known way to defeat them. Hypothetically."

* * *

**_Sorry about the delay on this chapter, guys. In the middle of my yearly winter cold and it's a little hard to concentrate. Anyway...will keep chugging along as I can. Lots of comments will help keep me going. :-D_**


	6. Chapter 6

Kate Beckett was very comfortable with filtering out the background noise of New York City whenever she had to listen to someone in a crowded area. It was a skill most New Yorkers learned early in their dealings with the greatest city on Earth...but for a woman with supernaturally enhanced hearing, it was *essential*. She had her routine down: open the door, quickly shut off her hearing, then pull the dial up just enough to hear what was in the immediate area around her.

However, when she left the Museum of Natural History, a voice cut through the cacophony of background noises that she was so used to tuning out. She focused in on that voice, pushing herself to isolate that specific voice so that she could hear what they were saying and where they were saying it from. "The end is near!" they said. "Repent and turn from your wicked ways!" "Offer sacrifices to your gods!"

A hand on her shoulder shook Beckett away from her thoughts. "Beckett?" Castle asked her gently.

Beckett jumped back, wincing like Castle had yelled at her with a megaphone. "What?!"

Castle flinched at his girlfriend's reaction, knowing immediately that he had done something wrong...even if he didn't know what it was. "Are you ok?" he asked, as quietly as he could.

Beckett flinched again before running her routine to fix her hearing. "I'm fine, Castle," she replied. "I was just listening to something weird downtown."

Castle, Ryan and Esposito each had their attention totally fixed on Beckett...'weird' being a word that held a totally new level of meaning for all three of them. "Define weird," said Esposito.

"I think it was some nut jobs picketing the Empire State Building, yelling about how the end was near."

"So what's the big deal about that?" asked Ryan. "Those guys camp out in Times Square all the time."

"True," Beckett agreed, "but one of these guys was yelling about making sacrifices to your gods - *plural*."

Castle caught on immediately. "And considering the number of different religions we're dealing with when it comes to the human sacrifices, you're thinking this particular nut job might know more than his buddies?"

Beckett nodded. "Anyone up for a trip to the Empire State Building?"

* * *

Castle watched the buildings pass as Beckett drove them downtown. One thing, in particular, stuck out to him like a sore thumb. "All the psychics are closed."

Beckett rolled her eyes, her attention never leaving the road. "Maybe it's a national psychic holiday."

"But *all* of them? Not everyone celebrates every holiday. I mean, even you stopped celebrating Christmas after your mom died. Surely some of them would be open. Unless..."

Beckett smiled, even as her common-sense instincts were telling her not to take the conversation further. "Unless what?"

"Unless they know."

"Know what?" asked Beckett skeptically. "That the end of the world's coming? That's ridiculous."

"*We* know."

Beckett rolled her eyes again as she pulled next to a fire hydrant and pushed her police business pass into the window. "We don't know anything of the kind, Castle."

Castle continued their discussion even as they got out of the car. "What about that meeting we just had with Dr. Huchim? Where he practically outlined for us how the world was going to end?"

"All he outlined for us was how the Mayan Death Gods are *possibly* attempting to take over the world," Beckett replied as she turned the corner on 35th street. "How is that any different from Lóng zhǔ?"

Castle opened his mouth, then closed it quickly when he realized that Beckett had a point. They quickly made the second turn toward the Empire State Building and came upon the men that Beckett had heard further uptown. Five homeless-looking men with sandwich boards and picket signs were slowly pacing up and down the block. Four of the men had fairly stereotypical messages: "Repent or perish!" "The end of the world is here!"

One of the men, though, had a slightly different message. "Offer sacrifices to your gods!" he called. "Xibalba is coming!"

Ryan and Esposito stood with their friends at the corner of 34th and 5th, watching the odd man as he walked up and down the street with his fellow crazies. Beckett noticed how Ryan was wincing as he watched them. "Ryan? Are you getting anything from them?"

"Unfortunately, no," Ryan replied, wincing for the third time.

"But you *are* getting something from them?" asked Castle.

Ryan winced again, forcing himself to disconnect from the minds of the religious fanatics before answering Castle's question. "Have you ever watched one of those shows about hoarders?"

"Yeah?" asked Esposito.

"You know that feeling you get when the camera shows the hoarder's house for the first time?" When his three friends nodded, Ryan continued, "that's what the minds of these guys are like. Absolutely six degrees of crazy."

"So you're not going to get anything useful out of these guys?" asked Beckett with a weary sigh.

When Ryan shook his head, Esposito spoke up. "Maybe I can." Three pairs of eyes focused their attention on him, so Esposito explained, "When I had to file all of those memories the first time, they were completely scattered and out of order. I had to put each pile into the correct order so I could access the information I need to get."

Castle caught on right away. "So if you pull a set of our crazy man's memories, you should be able to organize them in a way that we can use what's in his head, even if he can't communicate it to us?"

Esposito nodded, which was all that Beckett needed. "Do it," she said.

The Guardian headed away from his friends and down the street toward the religious fanatics. He walked slowly, trying to be casual enough to not stick out but careful enough to not be threatening to the crazy people...until he got to the Mayan 'prophet', who he stumbled into 'drunkenly', causing the man to fall to the floor. "Man," Esposito exclaimed as he helped the man to his feet, "I am ssssoooo ssssorry..."

The man's eyes widened in awe as his gaze settled on Esposito. His reaction was quiet, but unmistakable to the Guardian...especially since he already recognized the name. "Hunaphu?" Esposito nodded, assuming he was just playing along with the rantings of a crazy man. The man fell to his knees, the picket sign forgotten as his face hit the ground in an elaborate show of humility. "Oh my Lord Sun," he cried, "who am I that I should be so honored by your presence in this time of great darkness..."

Esposito blushed furiously, intensely embarrassed by the man's public display of worship. "Get. up," he demanded through clenched teeth, surprised that there weren't *more* people staring at them.

"Yes, yes, my Lord." The man rose to a standing position with his head still deeply bowed. He seemed to be more aware of his surroundings than he had been moments earlier. "Forgive me, my lord, I should have known you were not desiring of attention. How may I serve you?"

"Gimme your hand," said Esposito. The man reached out his hand, and Esposito grabbed it at the wrist, copying his memories in an easier and much more organized fashion than Esposito would have thought possible. His face softened as compassion for the man filled his heart. "Go home. Help your friends and neighbors to get through this time."

The man shook his head, as if a fog was lifting from his mind. "Yes...yes," he said in a daze, still shaking his head as he walked off. "I can do that. Thank you."

Esposito watched the man leave, understanding what the man had gone through, but confused about the way he said goodbye. He was still in that contemplative mood when he got back to his friends...one of whom seemed surprisingly awestruck by what he had need. "Okay, *what*?"

Ryan was slightly surprised by his partner's question. "You have no idea what just happened there, do you?" When Esposito shook his head, Ryan continued, "when you copied that guy's memories, you organized them on the fly, right?"

Esposito nodded, still unsure of where his partner was heading. "Yeah...?"

"Apparently whatever you did went both ways. When he left he was just as sane as the rest of us."

"Huh," said Esposito. "So that's what that was. Cool."

"Did you get anything useful from him?" asked Beckett.

Esposito nodded, turning his attention completely toward Beckett. "Enrique saw a few of his friends get taken by the black fog. It would possess them, take them over for a couple of hours, then leave. And his friends would simply fall down dead. Heart attack."

"How many of Enrique's friends did the fog do this to?" asked Castle.

"Six," replied Esposito.

"Any idea why the fog picked people it picked?" asked Ryan.

Esposito shook his head. "Before Enrique went off the deep end he was a Vice President at Citigroup. Other than the fact that they were co-workers...there's not much connecting them."

"Still, we should run the names first thing in the morning, see if anything pops between them," said Beckett. "Also, give the list of names to Lanie when you get home tonight, see if she can pull the forensic reports in the morning and find any commonalities. Who knows, we might get lucky."

* * *

**_All comments welcome!_**


	7. Chapter 7

Esposito intercepted Castle and Beckett as they made their way into the precinct the next morning. "I ran those six names, like you asked," he told them.

"Find anything?" asked Beckett.

"They were killed in order of seniority within the company, starting with Enrique's secretary, a Christine...Davidson, and ending with Enrique's boss, Senior VP Oscar Natchez. Other than that, though, the only thing they seem to have in common is Enrique."

"And did he...?"

Esposito shook his head. "He was a witness, nothing more. I think he's got slightly enhanced eyesight..."

"Which would be how he recognized you in crazy mode," added Castle.

"And why he would have seen the black fog without getting possessed by it," agreed Beckett. "Which means the seniority pattern may be the way the fog is choosing its victims."

Castle nodded in agreement with his partner's suggestion. "You think the fog was working its way up the ladder, and when it couldn't find enough power in Citigroup, it moved on?"

As Beckett nodded, Ryan asked, "So if it moved on, where did it move to?"

"I think we need to focus on Oscar Natchez," suggested Esposito. "If we can figure out who was the last person to see him alive..."

Beckett easily finished her friend's statement. "...we might know who the black fog got passed on to. Good idea, let's start working on it."

"You may need to wait a bit on that," chimed in their captain behind them. Four heads turned, focusing their attention completely on Captain Gates. "The four of you, my office, please."

Ryan's eyes widened just slightly. He nudged his partner as they headed into Gates' office. "Gates? Being *polite*?! Maybe it is the end of the world..."

"I heard that, Detective," Gates called out her response as she sat down behind her desk. "The Vice President is in town for several holiday fundraisers starting this afternoon. Beckett, Ryan, Esposito...you guys have been selected to be a part of the detail."

The Guardians shared suspiciously nervous glances between them...which was something Captain Gates picked up on immediately. "Is there a problem with that, detectives?"

"We were just starting to put the pieces of these cases together..." Beckett insisted.

Gates cut her off. "Mr. Castle can cover for you for the day...unless *today* is the day the world's really going to end?"

"Not that we know of, sir," Ryan grumbled in reply.

Gates sighed, understanding the frustration of her team. "Detectives, I sympathize with your desire not to be taken off this case, even for the day. Unfortunately, since Detectives Beckett and Esposito were on suspension the last time the Vice President was here and Detective Ryan had to mind the store in your absence, the three of you were on the top of the list this time around. I'm sorry, but there's nothing I could do."

"Yes, sir," the three disappointed detectives grumbled. A flash of panic raced through the group as four voices projected the same thought into the mind-link at the same time. _Is Bracken going to be there?_

Gates picked up on it immediately. "Is there some other reason for the three of you not to be assigned to this detail, Detectives?"

The mind-link conversation went by so quickly it felt like they were one person, trying to work out the decision in a single mind. _If we ask about Bracken, she'll know something's wrong immediately, and she won't let us out of here until we tell her what it is. Do we tell her? Hell, no! She's kept our 'other' big secret, though...maybe we can trust her with this one? An ex-IA cop, you've got to be kidding..._

Gates discretely cleared her throat to remind the four Guardians that she was still in the room. "Well?" she asked them. "Is there anything you need to tell me?"

Beckett spoke for the group. "No, sir."

Gates sighed with obvious disappointment. _All this time...I've protected them, kept their secrets, and *still* they don't trust me..._"Then you have your orders. Report to the Waldorf Astoria, and the chief will give you further orders from there. Dismissed."

The three detectives left their captain's office to head out to their assignment. But before Castle could bring up the rear, Gates stopped him. "Mr. Castle?"

Castle stopped at the door and turned around to respond to his boss. "Yes, sir?"

"Can you...keep an eye on them for me?"

"Sir?"

"Mr. Castle...I am well aware that there is only one case where your team feels the need to go behind my back. And while your girlfriend has assured me more than once that she has put that case behind her, it's times like these that lead me to believe that the exact opposite is true."

"Captain, I-"

Gates stopped Castle's protestations with a hand raised between them. "Castle, there will come a time where I will need to find out everything you and your team have been hiding from me. This is not that time. All I'm asking is that you do...whatever you can to help them get through this day without incident. Are we clear?"

Castle nodded.

* * *

Security detail, to most police officers, feels a little like jury duty. It's long, it's boring, but when you're number's up, you show up, do what you're told and hope like hell that you'll at least get to hang out with your friends while you do it. Which is why Beckett, Ryan and Esposito all considered themselves lucky to at least be standing in line next to each other.

Feeling lucky, though, doesn't always go hand-in-hand with being *happy* about your situation. And the three detectives, standing in line in the Waldorf Astoria's Grand Ballroom, were far from happy. _Okay, I get having to suffer through this security detail,_ Esposito grumbled through their mind-link, _but *why* do we have to go through this receiving line nonsense?_

_Photo op, _replied Ryan, _apparently Russell wants to thank everyone in the detail 'for our service'._

_*Great.*_ Esposito's mind-voice was dripping with sarcasm and it was clearly taking a lot of self-restraint to keep his expression composed. _Any sign of Bracken?_

_He's here,_ Beckett informed them, her mind focused on little more than her adversary. _Whether he's coming down for the photo op or not, I don't know._

_Does he know that we're here? _asked Ryan.

_No_, Beckett replied. _At least, not as far as I can tell._

_Will *you* be okay if you have to take a picture with Bracken?_ Castle asked his girlfriend through the mind-link.

_I think so_, Beckett replied. Her tone quickly turning teasing, she then added, _so is running down leads so boring that even an apocalypse can't keep you from bugging me while I'm on duty?_

_Well you know me_, Castle teased back, _I do like nothing more than driving you crazy..._His tone turned serious as he then informed the group. _Actually, I'm at the loft. Gates gave me the afternoon off. She, uh...she said she wanted me to keep an eye on you._

_Really? _Beckett commented wryly. _She finally trusts you to watch my back?_

Castle let a hearty chuckle ring through the mind-link. _I doubt it. More like she doesn't trust you to go off alone when it comes to your mother's case..._

Anger bubbled up from the pit of Beckett's stomach. _Castle, you didn't..._

_No_, Castle insisted firmly, _I didn't tell her anything she didn't already know, Kate. But Gates is not stupid. Whether she knows about the connection to your mother's case or not, she knows that when it comes to your shooting you lock down and shut everyone out. My guess is that since you don't trust her to watch your back, she tried to send you someone you *do* trust._

_That argument's going to have to get put on hold, gang_, Ryan announced, breaking into Castle and Beckett's conversation. _The VP has arrived. And Bracken's with him._

The three detectives stood at attention, waiting for their turn to shake hands with the visiting politician. It was all pretty rote and monotonous: the Vice President went up to each officer, asked them for their name, then thanked them by name for their service to the city as flashbulbs popped all around them with Senator Bracken standing between them.

Until they got to the middle of the receiving line. "What is your name, officer?" asked Russell.

"Detective Javier Esposito, sir," Esposito replied.

"Nice to meet you, Detective Javier Esposito. You look like you were military before you joined the NYPD, would that be correct?"

"Army Special Forces, sir."

Russell then reached out his hand for the handshake. "Then thank you, Detective Javier Esposito, for your service...to..."

All conversation between the two men stopped as Esposito's eyes rolled back in his head and he started shaking with convulsions. The two men's hands, joined in a gesture of polite welcome and friendship, started to sizzle, blister, crackle and smoke with the unmistakable aroma of burning flesh. Shock echoed throughout the room, no one really believing their eyes, no one really sure of what to do...

Until the Geiger counters started going off. The piercing loud beeping of multiple detectors knocked everyone out of their stupor on both sides, pushing the room full of law enforcement personnel into action. The Secret Service reacted instantly, pulling the Vice President out of the situation and back out of the ballroom. The FBI and most of the police fanned out through the ballroom, unsure of what the true danger was, but still intent on finding and eradicating that danger all the same.

The Guardians, though, had their own priorities. The first of which was taking care of their injured friend. _Castle! _Beckett screamed through the mind link, _Get us out of here now!_

In the blink of an eye, the three Guardians disappeared out of the ballroom and appeared in the living room of the loft. Ryan helped to move his injured friend to the couch while reaching out for his fiancée. _Lanie, we need you at the loft._

_I know,_ Lanie replied through the mind-link. _Tell Castle to get me there *now*._

_On it,_ Castle agreed.

Lanie found herself in the loft a split second later. She went straight to work, joining Esposito on the couch and cradling his injured hand. Slipping into her healing trance, she jumped out almost immediately when she realized the source of the damage. "Guys, these are *radiation* burns," she exclaimed.

Beckett's eyes widened. "That's why the Geiger counters went off..."

Ryan, for his part, was mostly concerned with why his partner hadn't responded since he made contact with the Vice President. He reached deep into his partner's mind, grateful to find his partner's mind still there for him to connect with. _Javi?_

Esposito's mind-voice sounded...lost. _Ryan? Where are you, bro? I can't see you..._

_Follow my voice_, Ryan projected into the link. _You can feel my presence, right?_

_Yeah_, Esposito agreed, _I can feel you rattling around in here somewhere..._

Ryan chuckled into the mind-link. _You've gotten lost in here, man. I'm here to get you back out in the real world._

_Really_? asked Esposito. _How long have I been stuck in here?_

_Not long, _Ryan replied. _But when you got knocked out, something...weird happened._

_Yeah_? Esposito's mind-voice darkened and turned gravely serious as he remembered what shocked him into his initial stupor. _Get me out of here, man. I saw something I need to talk to you guys about. *All* of you._

Ryan pulled out of his partner's mind, and Esposito opened his eyes barely a moment later to find four pairs of eyes completely focused on him. He looked around, not entirely surprised to see that his surroundings had changed. He was surprised, though, by the Guardian who had joined his two other friends at the loft. "Lanie? Not that I don't love to see you, but what are you doing here?"

"I was healing your hand, honey," replied Lanie. "You had some pretty severe radiation burns."

Esposito's eyes widened. "*Radiation* burns?"

Ryan nodded. "You told me that you saw something we needed to hear?"

Esposito nodded, taking in a breath, then letting it out slowly to steady himself. "Guys, the Vice President is Bracken's boss. He's the head of the dragon."

Everyone's eyes widened at Esposito's definitive statement. "You're sure about this?" asked Beckett.

"It gets worse," Esposito continued. "When I shook Russell's hand I had the strongest vision I've ever had. I was standing in the Great Lawn in Central Park. It was starting to get windy; a Daily News blew by me. I caught it and read the front page; it was announcing the assassination of the President, and Russell getting sworn in. Then..." Esposito's voice trailed off as a cold shiver ran down his back.

"Then what?" asked Castle.

"Then New York City was destroyed by a nuclear bomb."

* * *

**_Well, if you've gotten this far, then you knew what you were getting into. And if you knew what you were getting into, then you know how much I shamelessly beg for comments. Yep, I want to hear from you, whether you love it, hate it, or are just disappointed that it didn't live up to the hype. So if you haven't gotten the hint yet, please leave comments below!_**


	8. Chapter 8

It took a second for everyone in the room to process what Esposito had just told them. "A nuclear bomb?" asked Ryan. "Are you *sure* that's what you saw?"

Esposito nodded. "Remember that scene where Sarah Connor watched Los Angeles burn in Terminator 2?" When four heads around the room nodded, Esposito continued, "Imagine seeing that happen to midtown Manhattan."

Everyone in the room shuddered at the disturbing thought. "That would fulfill the first part of the prophecy," Castle mused idly. When all attention immediately shot to *him*, though, he quickly explained, "the sun and the moon going out at the same time. A nuclear winter would cause that to happen."

"So," said Lanie, "now in order to prevent the end of the world, all we have to do is stop the Vice President from assassinating the President?"

"That sounds about right," replied Ryan.

"Okay," shrugged Lanie, "just so we're clear."

Beckett got up, more determined than ever to find a solution to the problems facing them. "Okay then..."

The shrill ring of a cell phone interrupted their conversation. Beckett picked up the line after the second ring. "Detective Beckett."

The voice on the other end was so loud and so vehemently angry that no one in the room needed Beckett's hearing to hear the other side of the conversation. "Would someone like to tell me why the hell Detective Esposito is now wanted for questioning in an attack on the Vice President?!"

* * *

Vice President John Russell pulled away from his Secret Service detail once the huddled group got him into the kitchen behind the ballroom. "Get away from me!" he yelled. "For the last time, I'm fine!"

"But sir," countered one of the junior secret service men, "your hand..."

Russell looked down at his right hand, flexing his fingers and wincing slightly as the burned skin caused him pain as he moved. "It's nothing," he barked, "I've done worse on my family's barbecue grill. Someone get me a bucket of cold water and a first aid kit!"

An aide quickly got him the requested supplies, and Russell pulled up to one of the counters to start treating his injuries...starting with dunking his hand in the water. "Sir," the aide insisted as he set down the bucket of water, "shouldn't we be taking you to a hospital?"

"What for?" Russell replied with surprising calmness. "So I could have them dunk my hand in ice water and wrap it in gauze and then spend the next week answering endless questions about what happened to my hand? Thank you, but no. I can do that just fine right here." The Vice President dunked his hand quickly into the ice water, wincing and gritting his teeth to tough his way through the drastic change in temperature. As the initial shock wore off, Russell's focus went straight to the men sworn to protect him. "So talk to me, gentlemen...what the hell happened back there?!"

"We don't know, sir," another aide replied quietly.

"I...I was kind of hoping you could tell us, sir," a third aide added.

Russell cursed his misfortune at having such seemingly incompetent people surrounding him, then sighed deeply, forcing himself to clear the anger from his mind. Flexing his fingers underneath the water, he soon realized his hand wasn't as numb as he needed it to be. "Someone get me more water," he demanded of the group. "Colder this time."

"Yes sir," an aide replied, running to get another bucket.

Russell re-focused his attention on trying to process what had just happened to him. "That soldier whose hand I was shaking...Javier...Esposito, I think it was?"

Bracken nodded, carefully schooling his expression. "I think that was his name, sir."

"Is he okay?" asked Russell. His demeanor quickly darkened, though, when he got nothing but blank stares in return. "You mean you don't know?!" he snapped.

"Our priority was you, sir," one of the Secret Service agents replied. "Especially once those radiation detectors went off."

"Radiation detectors?" Russell's eyes widened in surprise at that piece of news. When the agent nodded, Russell demanded of the group, "Anyone got another one of those things?"

When an agent stepped forward, detector in hand, Russell pulled his hand out of the water, allowing himself to be re-scanned. The silence from the machine immediately reduced the level of tension in the room. "You're clean, sir."

Relieved, Russell stuck his hand back into his bucket of water. "Get me another one of these!" he yelled to the group.

"Yes sir!" an aide yelled, already halfway to the ice machine.

Russell turned his attention back to the his remaining aides. "I would really like someone to track down Detective Esposito and find out if he's okay."

"Yes, sir," replied several of the aides in unison.

"Good." The Vice President pulled his hand out of the bucket it was residing in and plunged it into the fresh water before talking to his assistant. "Thomas, what's my schedule like for the rest of the day?"

Thomas pulled out a smartphone and called up his boss' schedule. "Well, s-sir," he replied nervously, "assuming we're going to send your regrets to the first fundraiser, your next appointment is...an hour with Penny Marchand at 4."

"Well, Bill," Russell asked his old friend, "you never got the chance to meet my wife, did you? Would you care to spend an hour with us this afternoon?"

Senator William Bracken smiled, deciding to humor his friend in his hour of need. "John, I'd be honored."

* * *

"Are you *sure* you're going to be okay, sir?" Thomas asked, worried his boss was blowing off a potentially major problem.

The Vice President rolled his eyes for what felt like the tenth time. "Thomas, will you *please* stop worrying! Bill did a perfectly fine job with my hand. And if anything feels at all uncomfortable after today, I promise I'll run by Walter Reade for a checkup when I get back to DC. All right?"

Thomas was hesitant to believe his boss, but also equally reluctant to defy him. "If you say so, Mr. Vice President..."

"I say so," insisted Russell. "Now leave us. You know I don't like and audience when I meet with Ms. Marchand."

"Yes, sir," said Thomas, bowing his head respectfully before leaving the suite.

The Vice President then turned around and greeted his guest. "Penny! Such a pleasure to see you again..."

Penny Marchand greeted the elder statesman with their traditional air kisses. "Mr. Vice President, it's always a pleasure to see you. I see you have a guest?"

Russell waved over his friend for introductions. "Penny, I'd like you to meet Senator William Bracken. Bill, this is Penny Marchand, a good friend and the most gifted medium I've ever had the pleasure to meet."

Penny blushed furiously. "Mr. Vice President, you are simply too kind. I am only carrying on my mother's legacy...the way I'm sure she would have wanted me to. Senator, it is a pleasure to meet you."

"Well, any friend of Bill's..." said Bracken with a smile as he kissed Penny on the top of her hand. "Ms. Marchand, it is a pleasure to meet you."

Penny blushed even further at Bracken's display of chivalry. "Gentlemen, I know your time is valuable, so shall we get started?"

The two men nodded and followed Penny into the suite's living room, taking seats on the sofa that sat opposite the chair where Penny sat down. As Russell lit the candle sitting on the coffee table between them, Penny drew in a deep, cleansing breath, then let it out slowly to clear her mind. She started with her usual invocation. "May the spirits we seek find this a place of rest and welcome."

The drapes closed with a loud flourish as Penny finished speaking; it was a sound that made both men jump. "D-does that always happen?" asked Bracken nervously.

Russell shook his head. "Actually, it's n-n-never happened before," he said. Russell turned to the woman he usually looked to for guidance when things got weird. "Penny? Is this normal?"

Penny jerked her head back in shock as a wave of tremors overtook her. Only when the spasms subsided did Penny find the strength to speak, and even then she could only gasp out what would be her last three words. "It's coming. Run!"

Russell didn't think twice. He jumped up and ran for the door...only to find it blocked shut and impossible to open. Bracken turned him away from the door, pulling Russell toward the bedroom where they might hide...the door wouldn't budge. Russell then turned around and pulled Bracken toward the second bedroom...only to have the door slam shut in his face.

A cold breeze blasted through the room, whipping Penny Marchand's hair around her head as her lifeless body sat in the chair where she had first called the spirits to join them. Russell and Bracken stood in the middle of the room, hoping against hope that being in the eye of the storm could somehow, in some way, protect them.

It was to no avail. The fierce winds tightened around the two men, picking up in speed and intensity as the winds wrapped around their feet...their knees...their arms...their chests...their shoulders...and finally dove down into their lungs, stealing the last of their life's breath...

The winds stopped as abruptly as they had begun. Russell and Bracken straightened up, dusting themselves off and straightening themselves up with a confidence and dignity that had been absent seconds earlier. Russell frowned as he touched his balding hair and sagging, wrinkled skin. "That is...disappointing," he exclaimed. "I had hoped to have more of a warrior's body."

"This is a different age, Hun-Came," Bracken insisted, his expression showing a much greater level of satisfaction. "Power is rarely expressed in physical prowess. In fact...if the memories of this body are correct, then it is most intellectually cunning who ascend to rule the masses. And according to the memories of this body...most of these men are short, fat, and lacking hair."

"I should fit right in, then," Russell grumbled. His eyes narrowed in furious surprise. "Brother, did we not agree that we would only enter the two most powerful bodies in the land?!"

Bracken nodded. "We did."

"Then why," Russell bellowed out in anger, "does this body still have a ruler over him?!"

Bracken frowned, briefly confused by his brother's statement. His attitude though, seemed to brighten with the speed of a thought. "You must trust in the wisdom of the scout, Vucub-Came. Did I not say that this world honors intellect and cunning far more than raw power?"

"You did, brother," said Russell.

"Our bodies are respected," Bracken explained, "by the forces of good *and* the forces of evil in this land. If we use our cunning to take over the power seat of this land..."

"I can then have you installed..."

"The word is appointed, brother..."

Russell accepted his brother's correction. "I can then have you *appointed* to rule at my side, brother. Then, when we pick a target to take by force, we won't just have this land laying fearful at our feet..."

"We'll have an army of warriors ready to fight and die for our cause," declared Bracken.

"Excellent."

Russell started to head towards the door to the suite when Bracken stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. "Wait, brother...there is a bit of business this body must see taken care of before our plan can succeed."

"What is it?"

"There is a woman, a...Kate Beckett, who has knowledge of this body's prior activities. If this information were made public, this body believes that it would prevent us from ever being allowed to rule at your side."

Russell sighed with disappointment and frustration. The idea of having to rely on cunning over power was distasteful enough to begin with, but to have to clean up some human lackey's baggage..."Very well...let us destroy this Kate Beckett swiftly so that we may proceed with our plans unhindered by future baggage."

* * *

Victoria Gates turned the business card around in her fingers, debating whether or not to call the one number she had hoped and prayed she would never have to call. She hated ever having been put in this situation in the first place. She was a cop, born into a long line of cops. She loved black and white, right and wrong, and seeing the good guys win and the bad guys being put in jail. And there was nothing, *nothing* more that she hated than secrets, lies and shades of gray. It was why she took the 'hated' job in Internal Affairs: so she could take the people who hid behind the badge, operating in the grey to line their own pockets, and push them into the light...where their evil deeds could be exposed and brought to justice.

But today...today her best team operated in that grey area. For the greater good. And it seemed like those who wanted to pull the world into eternal darkness were fighting them with every weapon in their arsenal.

Maybe it was time to pull out a few secret weapons of her own.

She picked up the phone.

"This is the Iron Lady. I have a code red. Repeat, I have a code red situation. I need you to patch me in to the Phoenix right away..."

* * *

**_Remember, lots of comments make for a happy writer, and happy writers write faster!_**


	9. Chapter 9

Esposito was pacing the length of the loft, cursing God, himself, and anything and everything connected to his 'blessing'. "This is just great," he complained, "how the hell am I supposed to help figure out how to stop an assassination when I'm wanted for questioning in 'attempting' to assassinate someone else?!"

"It's okay, baby," Lanie tried to soothe her worried fiancé, pulling him down on the couch by her side. "I'll change your face, we'll put together some fake identification...we'll get through this."

"I can't just 'get through this'," Esposito insisted. "Not with what's at stake here."

"He's right," chimed in Ryan. "Besides, if they're looking for Esposito now, it won't be long before they're looking for me and Beckett as well. Remember, we all disappeared at the same time."

Esposito then held up his fully healed right hand. "And how am I going to explain this?"

"You don't," said Beckett. "You can't go in. None of us can."

"Then what's our next move?" asked Castle.

Beckett started pacing the room...although at a pace that was much slower than Esposito's worried laps. "The one advantage we have is that the President's schedule isn't always a top secret thing. Russell's going to want the assassination to be in a very public venue so Ryan, do we know..."

The crash of breaking glass interrupted their conversation. Ryan and Esposito reacted with cops' training, diving for cover and pulling their weapons, scanning the area for potential threats. Which left Castle to watch, for the second time in his life, the horrific sight that would forever be burned into his memory: Kate Beckett, collapsing after having been taken down by a bullet.

One member of the Guardians, though, had had more than enough nightmares about just such a sight. "Beckett!" yelled Lanie, flying to her best friend's side. She pushed Castle out of her way and laid her hands on her friend, slipping immediately into a healing trance. The bullet fell out of the hole in the side of Beckett's chest as the holes in her chest and arm quickly closed. Lanie slipped out of her trance, and Beckett woke up with a start, gasping for breath...but not getting up. "Castle," Beckett asked quietly, "am I shielded?"

"What?" asked Castle in disbelief.

"Am. I. Shielded?" Beckett repeated more slowly. The itch of Castle's magic on her skin told her exactly when she had the protection she was looking for. Beckett sat up, pulled her own weapon out of its back holster, aimed out the window and fired, hitting her shooter squarely between the eyes.

The whole thing was over so quickly Ryan and Esposito were shaking their heads in disbelief. "Okay, what the hell was *that*?!" exclaimed Ryan.

Beckett took charge immediately. "First...is everyone okay?"

Four heads nodded around Beckett. "There was only one shot fired," said Lanie. "It went through your arm and punctured your lung."

Castle found the bullet on the floor and handed it to Beckett. ".30 caliber sniper rifle?" she asked. Esposito nodded his confirmation. Beckett rolled the bullet around in her hand as she tried to process what had just happened. The open window in a building about 60 yards away kept demanding her attention. "Castle?" she asked, "Can you get us into that apartment?"

The group immediately found their surroundings had changed. Esposito recognized the conditions as he looked around the room. "Yep," he declared, "this is a definitely a sniper's perch..."

"Watch what you touch," said Beckett. "The last thing we need to give anybody is more ammunition to use against us."

"Pardon the pun," Castle grumbled.

Beckett rolled her eyes at her boyfriend's statement. "If you see anything we need to look at, let Ryan pick it up."

"Found a phone here," Esposito announced to the group.

The cell phone immediately started to float in the air, and Ryan willed it to float in his direction. "Hmmm..." Ryan mused, "apparently our shooter's been texting somebody..." He blanched, though, when he saw the shooter's last text message. "Uh, Beckett..."

"What?" asked Beckett.

"Apparently, someone's put a *major* price on your head."

"Let me see that," Beckett said to Ryan. The phone floated over to a place where she could see the text on the screen. "Huh. Million dollars, delivered on proof of my death."

Castle moved to a spot where he could see the phone. "We all know there's only one man alive who wants you dead that badly..."

"Bracken," agreed Ryan and Esposito.

"But don't you have that deal with Bracken," asked Lanie, "where he doesn't go after you, and in exchange, you don't release the file?"

"There's no file," Ryan and Esposito replied in unison. "Beckett was bluffing," said Esposito.

Castle brought everyone back to the loft in a blink and left them in the living room as he pulled an old case file from his office safe and set it on the dining table. "She *was* bluffing," he announced to the group. "She's not bluffing anymore."

Ryan started flipping through the contents of the file, papers moving of their own volition on the table. Esposito went over to join his partner, eyes widening as he saw how much information was in the file. "How long have you had this?" he demanded.

"About eight months," Castle replied simply.

"Where did you get it?"

"He's had it a lot longer than that, I'm guessing," replied Ryan. "It's only been readable for about eight months."

Castle nodded, confirming Ryan's suspicions. "How's you figure it out?"

"Burnt edge here, little hole in the paper there...it's really good, just not good enough to be a full duplicate copy."

Esposito was confused. "Wait, what are you guys talking about?"

"This file isn't some long-lost third copy," Beckett explained to her friend. "It's the copy that blew up when Maddox opened that safe. Castle put it back together."

"So we can use it, right?" asked Esposito. "Against Bracken?"

"I'm not sure we can," Beckett replied. She explained to the group, "When I get anywhere near that file, I can *feel* the energy holding it together. If those papers have to get subjected to any tests to verify their validity..."

Castle understood Beckett's dilemma immediately. "You're afraid the magic I used to put the file together will screw up any tests a third party might put the paper through." Beckett nodded.

"I also don't know how much good it will do us anymore," insisted Beckett. "If Bracken isn't the one running the show, then if Russell wants to come after me this badly..."

"There really isn't much Bracken can do about it," Esposito said. Beckett nodded in agreement.

Lanie seemed to come to a decision as she listened to the discussion her fellow Guardians were having. "So I'll change everyone's faces, then."

The group nodded in reluctant agreement. "Still doesn't help with my status as a suspected terrorist, though," complained Esposito.

"There is someone we can call to help with that, though," Castle suggested. "Even if he can't clear it up, he can at least help us know what the other side is thinking."

"Fallon?" asked Beckett. Castle nodded. "Couldn't hurt, at this point. Call him."

While Lanie took Esposito aside to get started on the first disguise, Castle pulled the battered card out of his wallet and picked up the phone. He soon frowned, though, when the other line didn't give him the answer he was looking for. Castle looked at the phone as if the device itself held their answers, then flipped over the business card and tried the two numbers on the back.

By the time Castle hung up the phone the third time, he clearly had both Beckett and Ryan's full attention. "Castle?" asked Ryan, "What is it?"

"That's really weird," replied Castle, staring at the phone's receiver. "All of Fallon's phone numbers have been disconnected."

* * *

**_All comments welcome!_**


	10. Chapter 10

"Bro..." Esposito could only shake his head as he watched his partner walk down the street. "You look like such a nerd."

Ryan smirked at his partner, pushing his thick, coke-bottle, horn-rimmed glasses up his nose. "You're one to talk...Stanley."

"Yeah, yeah," grumbled Esposito as he ran a hand through his newly thinning hairline. "Of all the things Lanie could mess with...why did she have to go after my hair?"

"Depends...have you had any arguments with her lately?" When Esposito blushed and was suddenly unable to meet his partner's gaze, Ryan had all the answers he needed. "Uh huh." He handed his partner a business card. "This is the number of my favorite florist. I recommend 2 dozen longstem roses."

Esposito rolled his eyes...then tucked the card into the pocket of his jacket. "Thanks, bro."

"So why are we meeting here?" asked Ryan, sipping his coffee.

"This is the Java Loft where Castle always gets Beckett's coffee," replied Esposito. "If we can't go to the precinct and the loft isn't safe, he figured this would be the next best place to meet."

Ryan nodded, understanding Castle's logic. The two men looked around nervously, wondering when their friends were going to arrive. Ryan noticed them first. "Here they come."

The differences were subtle. But taken together, it would have been all but impossible for anyone to recognize Kate Beckett and Richard Castle...unless you were looking for them. After the pretty, freckle-faced redhead and her Italian-looking boyfriend got their drinks, they joined Ryan and Esposito at the window. "Any luck with the President's schedule?" asked Beckett.

"Nice to see you too, boss," Ryan teased.

"The longer we stay out in public, the bigger possibility she has of becoming a target," Castle insisted quietly. "What did you find out?"

Ryan sipped his coffee before giving Beckett the information he found. "The President will be coming to the Plaza in three days. Some sort of gala Democratic holiday fundraiser."

"So if they're going to do it in public they're going to do it there," said Beckett.

Ryan nodded. "Every source I looked into said that's going to be the President's next public appearance."

"But how can we be sure he's going to do it in public?" asked Castle. "The Vice President has access to almost everything the President has access to. Why not just slip some poison into his martini in the Oval Office?"

"If you're going to kill the President so that you can get power, then you need someone to blame for it," replied Beckett. "Otherwise you have a populace that you have to control instead of one that will rally behind your cause."

"And for all we know, *I'm* going to be the one they'll frame for it," agreed Esposito. "After all, I'm already wanted for an attempt on the Vice President..."

Beckett reassured her friend, "We're *not* going to let that happen, Esposito..."

Esposito felt a small glimmer of hope at his friend's confident reassurance. "Thanks, Beckett..."

Six of their fellow customers pulled guns, seemingly from out of nowhere...and all of them aimed directly at Beckett's head. The group made it out of the coffee shop just as the first bullets pinged off of Beckett's energy shield. The three detectives turned the corner, taking off at a speed that Castle was unable to keep up with. "BECKETT!" he yelled instinctually, trying to get his friends to slow down.

A dozen more bystanders pulled guns out of thin air and started shooting. Castle vanished, reappearing at the side of his friends. The foursome sprinted up Bowery, ducking into a nearby alley just as a third group of tourists seemed to recognize them and take off down the block with guns drawn.

Ryan peeked his head out from the alleyway to see the tourists running with the angry mob in the opposite direction. He was just barely able to catch his breath and put up a perception shield before exclaiming, "Okay, what the hell was *that*?!"

"It felt like...orders..." said Esposito.

"Orders?" asked Castle.

"The tiger spirit," Esposito clarified. "It's like they got an order to kill you and it kicked in whenever they found out who you were..."

Ryan was past catching his breath and shook his head in disbelief. "So any woman with a last name of Beckett could be a target?"

"And anyone around us has the potential to get caught in the crossfire," said Beckett. "So no more meeting in public. Too risky."

Ryan's eyes widened as he realized the implications of what Beckett was saying. "Wait a minute...we can't go back to the precinct because Esposito would be arrested on sight. We can't work from the loft or from Beckett's place because that's the first place any merc would look. And we can't go out in public because the evil spirits coming after us shoot to kill at the mention of Beckett's name. But if we hole up in a safe house and wait for all of this to blow over, the world will end in the meantime."

"Yep, that about covers it," said Castle.

"So what the hell do we do now?!" exclaimed Ryan.

As if on cue, a black Suburban pulled up at the other end of the alley. Three guns came out of their holsters before the car came to a complete stop...

...and only went back in their holsters when they discovered who was driving the SUV. "You folks need a ride," he said, "or you gonna just hide out in this alley until someone else comes shooting at you?"

"Fallon," Beckett exclaimed as she holstered her weapon, "what the hell are you doing here?"

"Nice to see you too, Detective Beckett," Fallon countered with a smile. "I heard you guys were in trouble, so I figured I'd see if there was anything I could do."

"Who told you we were in trouble?" asked Esposito, trying to act casual.

"I did, for one," another voice chimed in from the car. The window behind the driver's side door rolled down to show Lanie was in the car with the Homeland Security agent. "Now are we going to sit here and talk all day, or are you people going to get in this damn car?"

Esposito knew better than to argue with his fiancée. "Yes, ma'am," he agreed, heading with his friends to the car.

* * *

The ping of gunshots rang off the body of the SUV as it pulled out onto the street, startling its passengers, but causing no injuries as Fallon wove his way through Sixth Avenue traffic. "Is this car bulletproofed?" asked Ryan.

When Fallon shook his head, Castle put a hand on the doorframe, whispering a quick spell. The body of the vehicle flashed with a ripple of green energy. "It is now," the wizard said.

"Thanks, Castle," said Fallon.

"So where are we going?" asked Beckett.

"A safe house in Queens," Fallon replied.

Esposito raised a wary eyebrow. "A DHS safehouse?"

"*No,*" Fallon replied emphatically, twisting the steering wheel around in his hands. "I can promise you, my bosses have absolutely no idea this place exists."

Ryan reached into Fallon's mind to verify what Fallon was telling them. What he saw...confused him. "What's the Network?"

Fallon smiled, not surprised that Ryan had read his mind. "It's a little hard to explain...but you should be able to ditch your disguises if you want. The rest you'll find out soon enough." As Fallon flung their car out of the Queensboro bridge exit, barely missing several other cars that swerved to get out of his way, he added, "Right now all I can tell you is that you'll have everything you need to continue your investigation without having to worry about people shooting at you."

Fallon finally seemed to be convinced that they were no longer being followed somewhere on the BQE. Still, he followed what seemed to be a well-traveled route of back roads, alleyways, shortcuts and double-backs until they reached Long Island City. After they pulled to a stop, Castle looked around and instantly recognized his surroundings. "Hey, I know where we are!" he exclaimed. "I own that warehouse right over there..."

"I know," Fallon cut him off with a knowing smirk. "But that's not where we're going." He switched gears on a dime, tapping his Bluetooth earpiece to start a phone call. "This is Phoenix. I might have come in hot. Any weird activity on the main route?"

Beckett immediately tuned in to the other end of the conversation, recognizing the voice on the other end of the line almost instantly. "Negative, Phoenix. Far as I can tell you're clean."

"What's the status of the Inner Circle?" asked Fallon.

"Dragonslayer's en route, but she's coming from California and won't get here until tonight. Crusher and Angel are teaching classes and wanted me to tell you they'll come to the meeting when everyone else gets here. Everyone else but Grumpy has an ETA under 30 minutes."

Fallon let out what seemed to be a long-suffering sigh. "And *what* is keeping Grumpy, as if I don't already know..."

"Crime scene call. He'll come in as soon as he's done. According to him, you'll get priority..."

"...as soon as we start paying him, I know, I know," said Fallon, cutting off what sounded like a long-standing issue with what sounded like his secretary. "Thanks, Claire," he added with a grateful tone to his voice. "I don't pay you enough."

"You don't pay me anything," 'Claire' responded with a chuckle. "I'll see you in 5."

"We're coming in through the front," Fallon spat out before the call cut off.

Beckett was confused. She was sure that she had recognized the voice on the other end of the line, but the code names and cloak-and-dagger driving were tempting her to think that this was some sort of covert government agency. Yet, with the jokes about people not getting paid..."Fallon? Where *exactly* are we going?"

"You'll see," Fallon replied cryptically. As the five Guardians got out of the car, Fallon led them toward the warehouse...

...and opened the door to the warehouse *next door* to their training center. The area was a little dingy, but it was clean enough to see that the small space had the purpose of being some sort of rarely used lobby. The receptionist at the sole desk stared at the group in stunned, open-mouthed shock.

Fallon looked at the woman with half-amused concern. He waved his hand in front of her face, trying to get her attention. "Terry? Oh, Terry?"

Hearing the familiar voice snapped Terry out of her stupor *just* enough to stammer out, "Oh, my God...it's them, isn't it? It's...it's really them?"

Fallon couldn't help but chuckle. "Yeah, Terry, it's them. They need our help. Now can you let us in so I can show them around the place?"

Finally Fallon's continued talking seemed to snap Terry out of her awestruck haze. "Oh...oh! Of course, Phoenix. Sorry about that."

"S'okay," replied Fallon with a patient smile.

Terry buzzed the door, allowing Fallon to push it open. The receptionist waved shyly at the five Guardians as they left. "Bye!...So nice to finally meet you!"

* * *

**_TheTruthBetween has been pretty vocal with me about her dislike of the level of angst of the previous two chapters. So I may have cut the angst a *little* short...Kenzi, thanks for your patience. :-). And everyone, as always, please leave your comments below!_**


	11. Chapter 11

The door opened to a drywalled hallway where a cruder, unfinished wooded door met them on the other side. The Guardians pounced on Fallon the minute the reception door closed. "Okay Fallon," demanded Esposito, "What the *hell* is this place?!"

Fallon seemed as prepared for Esposito's anger as he had been for Terry's awe. "It's not a government installation, if that's what you're thinking," he replied. "Actually, the government would probably have my badge if they even knew we existed..."

"So what is this place?" asked Castle. "Where are we?"

"We call it the Network," Fallon replied. "It sprang up so informally no one's ever thought to come up with a formal name for it. So the Network just stuck."

"What *is* the Network?" asked Beckett.

Fallon thought for a minute, trying to come up with a simple way to describe it. "This in *no* way sums it up completely, but the only way I can describe it is a bunch of people coming together to try and do some good in the world." He opened the door at the end of the hallway, and it quickly became the Guardians' turn to be surprised.

The warehouse seemed to be crudely subdivided into rooms of all sizes. The buzz of activity surrounding the place was palpable. Children were chasing each other from room to room. There seemed to be people everywhere: some were talking one-on-one, others in groups both small and large. A few rooms seemed to be allocated for workouts of all sorts...and it was in one of those rooms that Ryan got the surprise of his life.

The class looked to be some sort of martial arts discipline. Black belts lined up along opposite ends of the room, and a petite, dark-haired woman stood in the middle. She called out to the class, "tri...diva...odin...IDTI!"

The black belts rushed her from both sides. The woman in the middle was a blur of fighting prowess; punching and kicking with a speed and precision that left the group that rushed her collapsed on the ground, but otherwise uninjured.

Once all her students were properly subdued, she told them with a fang-bearing smile, "And *that's* for making jokes about my height!" As the group staggered slowly to their feet, she continued, "What is it that I tell you every class? It's not the strength of your opponent that matters..."

"It's the strength of your heart," the group replied in groaning unison.

"That's right!" She exclaimed before leading the group in what looked like a standard class ending. "Now bow to each other, bow to your instructor, and bow to the symbol of our country..."

It was only after the group took their third bow that they noticed in the mirror that they were being watched. And by whom. Every student in the group wheeled around and fell to one knee in a sign of their admiration and deep respect for the group at the door to their practice room.

And their instructor...their instructor's face lit up like a kid on Christmas morning. "KEVIN!" she yelled out joyously, nearly knocking over her old friend with the tackle-embrace she gave him.

Ryan had to catch his breath, physically and emotionally, before he could greet her in return. "Katya! What...what are you doing here?"

Katya looked to Fallon, frowning in confusion. "You haven't told them yet?"

"I was getting to it!" Fallon replied with a defensive, but affectionate, chuckle. "You can stay and help tell them the story if you want."

"I want! I want!" Katya agreed enthusiastically, eliciting more chuckling from Fallon. She looked at her students, who were still kneeling in respect of the group that she knew they idolized, then turned back to Fallon. "I know that you know that they would want to stay more than anything...?"

Fallon nodded in patient understanding. "All right," he sighed, giving Katya the consent she was looking for, then turned to the group and told them, "as long as someone *closes this door*..."

The black belt closest to them was on his feet in a flash. "You got it, Phoenix," he replied, closing the door as the Guardians filed into the room. The student then turned to the four of them, dropping to one knee as tears threatened to fall from his eyes. "Honored ones, you don't know what a thrill it is to finally meet you face-to-face..."

Beckett was more confused than ever. "I don't understand, Fall..."

"Please," Fallon cut her off quickly. "In here everyone uses either aliases or code names. Mine, as you've already heard, is Phoenix."

"And mine's Angel," Katya replied with unbridled excitement.

"Okay, *Phoenix*," Beckett corrected herself as she asked Fallon, "I don't understand it. They're acting like *we* did all this."

A murmur of confusion seemed to ripple through the crowd of students until Fallon silenced them with a raised hand. "Actually, you *were* the ones to start 'all this'. Just...not directly."

Now it was the Guardians' turn to be confused. "Take a seat, everyone," Fallon told them. As the Guardians and the students all found places to sit on the floor, he began to tell the story. "Sìfāng, as I've learned more and more about your...exploits, one thing that's always surprised me is how *little* evidence there is linking the five of you to your abilities. I take it you have something to do with that?" When Castle nodded, Fallon asked him, "There is one thing, though, that the spell can't control, right?"

Castle tried to joke, "Besides spy satellites?" but soon caught on as his tone returned to a serious level. "People's memories, because we have no permanent control over free will."

Fallon nodded. "That's how the Network was born. After your battle with the dragons, people went looking for evidence online to prove that they weren't going crazy. Naturally, they didn't find any...but they *did* find thousands of other people looking for that same evidence. Some of them were witnesses to seeing one or more of the dragons. Others had been zombies. And others were made up of former members of the tiger's army. Support groups popped up all over the city. And as the support groups started getting together and talking to each other, they pieced together the events of the day pretty well. But they hadn't figured out much about *you guys* until the Tiger Moms came to a group meeting. Then they started talking about the legend of the Guardians and how blessed New York City was to have you..."

Katya jumped into the story with her usual exuberance. "That's when I came in! The Tiger Moms approached me after we 'took down' the ancient, as you would call it..."

Ryan connected with his old friend's mind, _Tiger moms?_

_Choden and Nazia,_ Katya spat out through the mind-link, _now shush!_

Realizing she had stopped talking during the mind-link interruption, Katya quickly picked up where she left off. "*Anyway*, I started traveling around with the Tiger Moms as they went around to the various groups telling the history of the Guardians. The more people we met, the more that I realized that these groups were all itching to do *something*. They knew what you had done for them and they wanted to pay it forward. They started finding all sorts of volunteer projects. Groups even started finding each other and collaborating together on some really big projects. I saw how these people could become a huge force for good, but with my...physical limitations, I knew I could not pull them all together on my own. When I heard about the anthrax attack, I talked to a couple of the NPs..."

Ryan cut Katya off at the unfamiliar term. "NPs?"

"Network precincts," replied Katya. "A few of your police precincts have so many support groups that we just consider the whole precinct to be part of the Network. Anyway, after the anthrax attack I talked to a couple of the NPs and found out that Phoenix here had worked with you guys to stop it."

Fallon picked up the narrative from there. "Once Angel brought me into the Network I realized what we had here: a community mobilization effort on a massive scale. It was 'if you see something, say something' times...five or ten thousand, easy. So I helped organize the groups into a real Network."

Ryan connected with Fallon's mind, understanding that this was a question best asked in private. _Does your boss know about this Network of yours?_

_*No*, _Fallon replied firmly, directly and with rock-solid conviction. _She doesn't know anything about you *or* the Network. And if I have it my way she never will. If the government ever got its hands on you guys or these people, I know *exactly* what they'd do to what we've built here. And I'd rather *die* than see that happen._

_You know I had to ask, right?_ asked Ryan.

Fallon's mind-voice softened just slightly. _Yeah, I do. _

One of the students cleared his throat in an effort to get the storyteller's attention. "Excuse me...Phoenix?"

"Yeah, Jake?" Fallon asked the student.

"Were you talking telepathically with the Zhànshì Mùshī just now?" he asked quietly.

When Fallon nodded in response to Jake's question, a murmur of amazement rose through the group. Jake exclaimed, "That is *so* cool..."

As the excitement quieted back down, Fallon finished the story. "So that pretty much covers it. I think I speak for everyone when I say that all of us have become better people for having been a part of this. And we owe it all to you."

The room erupted in applause at that statement, which caused all of the Guardians to blush furiously. Beckett, though, still had one question. "When you were on the phone upstairs, you mentioned a group called the Inner Circle that you and Angel are a part of. What's that?"

Fallon hit his forehead with his hand as he remembered what *else* he had brought the Guardians there to do. "That's right, the meeting! I had gotten so caught up in telling the story that I almost forgot." He called over to the student who had just spoken. "Hey, Jake?"

"Yeah, Phoenix?" Jake replied.

Fallon threw Jake the keys to his SUV. "My car's still upstairs. Can you change into civvies and get it down to the garage for me?"

"Sure thing, boss," replied Jake as he sprang up to exit the room.

Fallon returned his attention to the Guardians. "The Inner Circle is a sort of board of directors for the Network. Angel is a part of it, as am I. The rest of the members you'll meet soon." Turning his attention to the full group, Fallon continued, "But sooner will be more like later if we don't get going. Angel, are these guys done for the day?"

Katya nodded and turned her attention back to her students. "Good work, everyone. See you next week."

The group of students broke up and went their separate ways...although not before most of them came up to nervously shake the hands of one or more of the Guardians.

Beckett was overwhelmed by the outpouring of support they had just received. Castle noticed the tears that were threatening to fall and squeezed his partner's shoulder in support. "You ok?"

"Yeah," she replied, nodding. "I'm okay. For the first time in a couple of days, I'm really okay."

Castle understood the feeling immediately. "Yeah," he added, smiling, "me too."

* * *

**_Okay, I've been having some bugs with chapter 10. It's not recognizing any visitors to the page, although lordswiftuk was able to leave a comment. :D. So I would appreciate some help. If you're having any trouble at all reading chapter 10, can you please PM me and let me know? Thanks! And as always, comments on this chapter already all welcome!_**


	12. Chapter 12

The group slowly made their way out of the room and down the hallway. By this point, though, news was starting to travel through the building of the arrival of the Guardians. Knowing that any attempt to get pictures or autographs was a pointless exercise in futility, the Guardians were mostly stopped by hug after hug and handshake after handshake until finally Fallon had to stop the whole thing with a crowd-silencing yell. "Hey, hey, HEY! I can promise all of you, they're not going anywhere for a while, and I have to get them to an Inner Circle meeting. Can we please hold off on the welcoming committee until later?"

Slowly the disappointed mob surrounding the Guardians broke up until only Fallon and Katya were left. "Sorry about that," Fallon apologized. "But I know how they feel about you guys. If we didn't break it up fast, then none of us would get to the meeting."

The Guardians nodded in acceptance of Fallon's statement, and Fallon quickly led the group to a room in the back with a long table surrounded by twenty chairs. It was who was in those chairs, though, that caused the Guardians to stare at the table in wide-eyed, open-mouthed shock.

Martha Rodgers got up from her seat, crossing the room to let her son in on *her* 'little secret'. "Close your mouth, dear," she teased him, gently pushing Castle's chin into its closed position. "It's impolite."

Castle finally recovered from his shock long enough to speak. "Mother?! *You're* part of the Inner Circle? How...?"

Fallon, for his part, smiled as he crossed to the head of table, talking to the group as he went. "Sorry we're late, everyone. There will be plenty of time to swap stories later, but for now let's just do introductions. I believe all of you know our friends here pretty well?" As most of the people at the table smiled, chuckled and nodded, Fallon pointed out each person at the table in turn. "Guardians, I'd like to 'formally' introduce you to the Network's Inner Circle. You've already met Martha Rodgers, code name, Diva."

Castle smiled, his eyes sparkling at his mother's choice of code name. "How appropriate," he commented.

Fallon smiled in return. "I'm sure you'll find that's true of a lot of the codenames. Across from Martha is Captain Victoria Gates, codenamed the Iron Lady. And next to her we have the Tiger Moms: Tiger 1 is Choden Dohna, and Tiger 2 is her adopted daughter Nazia."

Choden got up from her chair and crossed the room to come face-to-face with Castle. Her voice was tentative and hesitant...but it was clear she had learned some English since their last meeting. "What has been built here, what has been done in the name of the Guardians...it would have made Tenzin very proud."

Castle nodded, trying to keep his voice steady as he embraced the older woman. "I hope he's up there somewhere smiling."

As Choden nodded and returned to her seat, Fallon continued with the introductions. "Next to the tiger moms, we have Ekaterina Petrovich, codename Angel." Fallon then frowned as he then realized who was *missing* from the table. He asked the Inner Circle, "Wait, where's Mama Bear? Claire told me she got here right around the same time the rest of you did."

"My namesake was hungry," a very familiar voice spoke up from the hidden side of the table. "They'll be back in a minute."

Two of the Guardians gasped at those comments: one for who was making the comments, and one because of who the comments were about. Castle crossed the room in a flash to go hug his daughter, and Ryan started pacing the room excitedly, stopping only when he finally got to embrace his wife and daughter as they re-entered the room.

Fallon was starting to think you couldn't wipe the smile off his face if you paid him. "Ryan, your wife's codename, obviously, is Mama Bear, and Castle, your daughter's is Wesley Crusher. That just leaves Professor X, so sir, if you'd like to do the honors?"

It soon became Beckett's turn to gasp as her father stood up from the table to embrace her. "Hiya, Katie."

"Dad!" she exclaimed, letting the tears fall freely as she embraced her father, "I'm so glad you're here..."

Jim Beckett kissed his daughter's forehead as he returned the embrace. "Me too, sweetheart. Me too."

Fallon finished up the introductions as Jim returned to his seat. "Dragonslayer has a case she has to wrap up in California, so she sends her apologies..."

"Wait, who's Dragonslayer?" asked Ryan.

Beckett thought back to something she remembered a certain FBI agent telling her about how her daughter thought she slayed dragons for a living. It was a comment that gave her hope that her life could be more than just 'the job'; it was a hope that her story, apparently, was now passing on to others. "I think I know," Beckett suggested. "It's Jordan Shaw, isn't it?"

Fallon nodded. "*Agent* Jordan Shaw, code name Dragonslayer, will be joining us tomorrow. That leaves Grumpy. Anyone heard from him?"

"*Grumpy*?" Even as the moniker left his lips, Castle was sure he knew who it was, nodding as he answered his own question. "Ah. Perlmutter."

"You are correct, Mr. Castle." Dr. Sidney Perlmutter responded to the mention of his name as he entered the room. "Well, Phoenix," the doctor asked Fallon as he took his seat at the table, "I came as soon as I could after getting the Code Red. Where's the fire?"

Castle frowned in confusion at the unfamiliar expression Perlmutter was using. "Code Red?"

"A potentially catastrophic emergency," replied Fallon. "It means that you're working on something that could threaten the safety of the country or the world..."

"Or both," chimed in Gates.

Fallon nodded as he continued, "and, for whatever reason, you need much more help to fight this battle than even you could come up with on your own."

"That's what the Inner Circle was created for," agreed Jenny. "So that when you need that help, you'll have it."

"But we didn't even know about the Network until this afternoon," countered Beckett. "So who called the Code Red?"

"That would be me," said Gates. "I called it in after I got the call from the Secret Service."

Fallon's eyes widened, clearly surprised by Gates' statement. "The Secret Service?"

Gates nodded. "Detective Esposito is apparently wanted for questioning in an attack that left the Vice President with radiation burns on his right hand..."

"That's not what happened," Esposito countered. "I didn't *attack* the Vice President. He simply shook my hand."

"And we all know what usually happens when you shake someone's hand," said Fallon. "So how'd he get the radiation burns?"

Esposito shifted his weight nervously between the balls of his feet. "When I shook the Vice President's hand, I didn't just see his past. I saw his future."

"His future?" asked Martha. "What did you see?"

Esposito's eyes locked not on Martha's, but on Fallon's. "I saw New York City being destroyed by a nuclear bomb."

The eyes of everyone at the table widened in response to the Esposito's announcement. "And that's where the radiation burns on your hand came from?" asked Fallon. "Some kind of bleed-over from the vision?"

Esposito nodded. "The Vice President got burned because of the handshake."

"But it *is* part of his future?" asked Fallon. "Did you see him in your vision? Was he in New York with you when the bomb exploded?"

Esposito shook his head, then looked to Beckett for permission to continue...a move that wasn't lost on Captain Gates. "Does the Vice President have something to do with your current caseload?"

"He may...or he may not," Beckett replied cryptically. "We're not sure yet."

Fallon watched the exchange, frowning in confusion. "What's their current caseload?"

"A series of ritual killings across the city," Gates explained. "People are being sacrificed in the styles of various cultures. The last working theory I heard was that they were being sacrificed either to accelerate or stop the end of the world." When the five Guardians exchanged a flurry of hesitant glances between each other, though, Gates suspected she was further out of the loop than she thought. "I take it you have new information?"

"The sacrifices aren't going to do anything to speed up or stop the end of the world," explained Ryan. "We believe the people performing these sacrifices are choosing sides for *after* the world ends."

Fallon's eyes flew back open in amazement. "*After* the world ends?"

"But I thought that archaeologists figured out that the Mayan calendar doesn't end on December 21st?" asked Alexis.

"It's *possible* that a couple of Mayan Death Gods didn't get the memo," Castle replied.

Ryan picked up on the explanation of the legend. "We believe that the dragon and the black sun are symbols of the two Mayan Death Gods, and that the killers are sacrificing people in an effort to gain favor with them."

"What does that have to do with the nuclear bomb?" asked Jim.

"The first step in the prophecy is blocking out the sun and the moon at the same time," replied Castle.

Fallon understood immediately. "And nuking Manhattan would certainly do that."

"Richard," asked Martha, "you said that blocking out the sun and the moon was only the *first* part of this prophecy. What are the other parts?"

Castle replied, "If the sun and the moon go out, then the gods will fight for control over the combined realms of hell and earth...to make a long story short."

"Yeah, you certainly shortened it," Ryan snickered.

Castle turned to his friend. "Did I miss anything?"

"The black fog," replied Ryan.

"Black fog?" asked Gates.

Castle ignored the captain's question to counter Ryan's suggestion. "We have no proof that the fog is connected to the sacrifices."

"It was seen at the zoo," countered Esposito.

Fallon broke in before the argument had an opportunity to take off. "Wait a second, what black fog?!"

"From what we can tell," Beckett explained, "the fog is some sort of ancient evil that temporarily hijacks people's bodies. Anyone the fog rejects dies after it leaves them."

Castle picked up where his girlfriend left off. "According to the statement we could get from our last witness, the fog seems to be working its way through people with increasing levels of power and influence. Last person we heard the fog rejected was a Senior VP with Citigroup."

"Has anyone ever *survived* being possessed by the fog?" asked Nazia.

Katya answered her question. "I believe Jerry Tyson survived his encounter with this darkness. Am I correct?" When Castle nodded, Katya pushed further. "So did the darkness accept him? Is he the example of who we should be looking for?"

Even as everyone else shuddered at the thought, Castle shook his head. "I think I chased the entity away from him before it had the chance to decide. No, I think if the fog accepted Tyson, he's still be alive."

"So how does this connect to the sacrifices?" asked Fallon. "How does this connect to the end of the world?"

"We have a witness who saw the fog at one of the sacrifices," replied Beckett, "but other than that we have yet to find a strong connection between them. As for the end of the world..."

"That's another story?" Fallon asked, slightly confused.

Beckett nodded. "I've been given...information...from a trusted source. If the fog reaches its target, then Esposito's vision could become a near-certainty."

Fallon studied Beckett's uncharacteristic nervousness and clear hesitation. "Beckett...do you know who the fog's target is?"

Beckett nodded again. "I believe that the fog's target is Vice President Russell. And if the fog has found the Vice President, then I believe their goal will be to assassinate the President."

Fallon felt like he had been sucker-punched. "What?!" he exclaimed. "Why?"

"Think about the prophecy," replied Castle. "If the fog went straight into the President, then the people would have to be forced to fight. It's a lot more work. But if the President were publicly murdered..."

Fallon caught on immediately. "The American public will be desperate to have an enemy to blame. Spin it right, and people will practically be chomping at the bit to go to war." The agent's expression changed quickly, though, as a question pushed its way to the front of his mind. "But then who's been coming after you guys?"

"Yeah," agreed Gates, "Detective Esposito isn't enough of a threat to raise up an army just to fight him."

"Unless the Guardians were made public in a way that framed them for the assassination..." suggested Katya.

Fallon shook his head. "No, someone's after them *right now*. And if the truth had found some way to go public we'd already know about it. Someone is trying to stop them from stopping the assassination. But who?"

Gates' gaze never left Beckett, even as the detective's eyes refused to meet hers. "You know who's behind this, don't you?"

Beckett could feel the eyes of every person in the room fall on her. Finally, after what felt like the longest, most uncomfortable silence in her life, Beckett tried to find comfort in her father's confused, but supportive gaze. "Senator Bracken," she admitted to the group. "He's behind this. He's the one trying to kill us."

That was probably the last name Jim Beckett expected to hear his daughter accuse. "Why, Katie?" he asked. "Why is a senator trying to kill you?"

"Dad..." Beckett replied hesitantly, clearly uncomfortable with what she was admitting to her father. "Before mom died, she was working on a case of a man who had been framed by some corrupt cops. Senator Bracken was the District Attorney at the time, and he blackmailed those cops, taking a percentage of their profits. Dad...when Mom uncovered this information, Bracken had her killed. And when I found out what happened...he hired the men who tried to kill me."

* * *

**_I'm baaaaack! Happy New Year, everyone! Sorry for the delay in getting a new chapter up. Hopefully there aren't too many of you who mind that this story outlived the "Mayan Apocalypse". Also, a combination of the holidays and bronchitis kept me from writing anything until, well, tonight. So please don't be shy about the comments, I'd love to know if you guys still want to see how all of this is going to end...:-)_**


	13. Chapter 13

"That's why you're being targeted," exclaimed Fallon. When the attention of the room turned completely toward him, Fallon explained his statement. "Bracken's on the political fast track in Washington. He's practically attached to..."

"Attached to who?" asked Martha.

Fallon's face drained of color as the thought formed in his mind before he spoke it. "The Vice President." He started pacing the room, using the physical energy to help his mind work out the plans of their enemy. "Bracken and Russell have been all but joined at the hip for the past year. The idea that Bracken is being groomed for the Vice Presidency is one of the worst kept secrets in DC. He's practically been in an apprenticeship for the job. So if you have any proof of Bracken's crimes, and if he's as ruthless as you say he is..."

Jim Beckett spoke up, finally understanding the danger his daughter had been voluntarily facing for years. "Then it's no wonder that Bracken wants you dead."

Ryan looked to Beckett, who nodded her permission for Ryan to speak. "Before you guys found us on the street, a sniper tried to take Beckett out at the loft," Ryan told the group. "When we examined his perch we discovered that it wasn't Bracken who hired him. It was Russell."

"He's put a million dollar bounty on Beckett's head," chimed in Esposito.

"Then we have to assume Russell knows everything," said Fallon. "And he's going after you to protect Bracken."

"There's something else," added Esposito. "The people who were firing at us when you found us weren't pros. They were regular people. But the minute they heard Beckett's name guns came out of nowhere and they started shooting. After that anyone with a sight line on Beckett started shooting at us. It was almost like..."

Castle and Fallon came to the same conclusion at the same time, and both men voiced it in unison. "A spell."

"We have to assume that Vice President Russell is under the fog's control now," added Fallon.

"Maybe not." Castle's words got the room's attention. "I think it might be worse than that, unfortunately."

"What are you thinking?" asked Beckett.

Castle explained, "The only thing that we've figured out about the black fog's kill pattern is that it seems to be looking for men with power. What if the fog isn't its own entity? What if it's a tool...an advance scout of some type?"

"A scout?" asked Lanie. "For who?"

"The Death Gods," Esposito replied grimly. "It would fit both the prophecy and the vision I had. If Russell kills the President and isn't caught, he would be sworn in as President."

"And since he would be able to appoint his Vice President..." added Beckett.

Esposito completed his boss' thought. "He would be able to sweep Bracken in to govern at his side."

"What if that's what the fog was looking for?" asked Castle, pushing his point home. "Two of the most powerful men in the world for the death gods to use to bring humanity under their control?"

"Which would be another reason the fog chose Russell and Bracken rather than just the President and Vice President," agreed Fallon. "Bracken has criminal ties that the President and the Vice President don't. Complete consolidation of power." A thought entered Fallon's mind as he considered their situation...the first thought since they started the meeting that caused the agent to smile. "We have the advantage, though."

Beckett frowned in confusion. "Against two Mayan Death Gods? How do you figure?"

"They don't know who you are," said Fallon. "I mean, they obviously know you by name and they know you because of Bracken's past with your mother, but they don't know about the Guardians."

"How can you be sure of this?" asked Jim.

"Because if they knew about the Guardians," Fallon replied, "then they wouldn't be going after them with something as ineffective as bullets." The agent's mind kicked into overdrive as inspiration sparked into a plan. "Professor, we need your team to research these legends *exhaustively*. Get us everything you can find on the Death Gods, the Mayan underworld, and any prophecies that might even *remotely* involve the Guardians."

Jim nodded, accepting the orders. "We'll get on it right away."

"Master Xiānzhī, Master Mùshī, can you help the Professor and his team with their research?" When Ryan and Esposito nodded, Fallon turned to one of his other team leaders. "We need eyes and ears inside the Waldorf Astoria. Madame Diva, do we have anyone on your team working at the hotel?"

Martha nodded. "We have a dozen women in housekeeping and another half-dozen people in room service. I'll check to see if anyone's been in the Vice President's suite recently and if they've seen or heard anything."

Castle raised an eyebrow in surprise at who Fallon was looking to for surveillance help. "Mother? Why are they looking to *you* to coordinate undercover surveillance?"

"Oh Richard, darling," Martha drolled with a smile, "what do most unemployed actors do between jobs?"

Castle smiled as he quickly understood what his mother was telling him. "They wait tables."

"And you would be amazed what a good actor can hear when they keep their eyes and ears open," Martha agreed.

Fallon then asked the group, "does anyone know the next time the President will be in New York?"

Ryan nodded. "There's a Democratic Holiday Fundraiser at the Plaza in three days. The President is expected to be there."

"Then we need eyes on the inside of the Plaza as well," said Fallon. He turned to Martha. "Can you also see if any of your team will be working the room that night?"

Martha nodded. "We've got at least a half-dozen servers in the hotel's catering department. One or more of them are bound to be working the reception."

With that piece of good news, Fallon decided to push his luck. "Would it be possible to get Claire a temporary job in catering at the Plaza for that night?"

Martha nodded again. "She might need a convincing fake ID..."

Fallon waved off the challenge. "Not a problem. I've got some contacts who owe me a favor."

Esposito watched the exchange with an increasing sense of confusion. "Hold up," he said, interrupting the conversation. "Who's this Claire, and why is it so important to get *her* into the Plaza reception?"

While 'Claire' quietly entered the room behind the Guardians with her usual impeccable sense of timing, Fallon replied to Esposito's question. "Communication. It would be next to impossible to sneak any tech into a party with this level of security. I have a strong suspicion that the easiest way to get any information out of the party is telepathically. And from what I hear, it's easiest for Master Mùshī to keep up a link with someone if he's linked to their mind many times before."

Beckett and Ryan shared a knowing smile before Ryan turned around to embrace his old protégé, picking her up and spinning her into the room in the process. "Not that it isn't a pleasure to see you," asked Ryan, "but what are you doing here?"

Beckett opened her mouth to answer her friend's question...but Fallon quickly cut her off. "Guardians," he announced, "I'd like to introduce you to my incredible volunteer assistant, Stephanie 'Claire' Frederickson."

"Hiya teach!" Stephanie greeted her old mentor with a smile as she pulled away from his embrace.

"*You're* Fallon's assistant?" asked Beckett. "I *knew* I recognized your voice..."

Esposito quickly put together Fallon's plan. "You want Stephanie..."

Stephanie coughed, discretely trying to correct her friend. "Claire..."

"Sorry," Esposito apologized, catching on to his mistake. "You want *Claire* to work the Plaza reception and pass the information to us through her link with Ryan?"

Fallon nodded. "The link between Claire and Master Mùshī would allow us to be able to keep track of the President at the reception and still be able to be there at a moment's notice if something goes down. I can't think of a better way to stake out the party...can you?"

Esposito shook his head, but Ryan spoke up. "This could be a pretty dangerous assignment. Shouldn't you at least ask her if she's willing to volunteer for it?"

Fallon didn't miss a beat. "Claire?"

"I have a typical catering outfit at home," Stephanie replied, "but if I have to wear anything more specific to the Plaza I'm going to need inside help to get it."

Fallon had to resist the urge to chuckle. "Madame Diva is working on it," he told Stephanie, "I'll keep you posted." Turning back to the bewildered Guardians, Fallon couldn't resist smiling.

"You have no idea how much easier it makes your job when you have an assistant who can read your mind."

* * *

**_Don't forget to leave your comments!_**


	14. Chapter 14

As the meeting broke up and the group split off into various conversations, Castle knew there was only one person he wanted to talk to. The only person who could answer the one question he couldn't get out of his head. "Mother," he asked Martha, "how in the world did you ever find out about a group like this?"

Martha, for her part, knew that she had little time to swap stories with her son. Thankfully, she also knew that the truth was short and sweet. "Your daughter," Martha replied with a proud grandmotherly smile. "Alexis found out about this ragtag little bunch and thought a woman of my experience and skills might be of use."

Castle shook his head in amazement. "*That's* how you got into coordinating information gathering and undercover surveillance?!"

Martha didn't miss a beat, pinching her son's cheek as she slipped out of the room. "We chameleons change to suit our environment, darling! You, of all people, should know that..."

Still contemplating his mother's parting words, Castle turned his attention to his daughter, who was watching her namesake 'niece' so her parents could have a chance to catch their breath. "Alexis?" asked Castle. "Mother told me you were the reason she got involved with the Network." Alexis nodded. "How did you...?"

Alexis answered her dad's unspoken question. "You know how much Internet research I did when you guys first got your abilities. I've been working with the groups almost since they started. And once you *finally* got around to telling Grandma," she teased, rolling her eyes, "I told her about the groups the next day."

"So...you're kind of a founding member of this thing?" asked Castle.

Alexis nodded again. "I guess you could say that, yeah," she shrugged with a small smile.

Bursting with his own fatherly pride, Castle leaned over and kissed Alexis on the forehead. "My daughter the superhero..."

"Yeah," blushed Alexis. "Wonder who I get that from?"

"Well, we all know it's not your mother," Castle teased, leaning his forehead against his daughter's. "I'm so proud of you..."

"Ditto," agreed Alexis.

* * *

Jenny wrapped her arms around her husband, taking comfort in the simple pleasure of being able to embrace him...even if it was only for a moment. "I'm so glad you're okay," she exclaimed. "When I got the Code Red call I..."

"I know, sweetheart, I know..." Ryan soothed. It wasn't a stretch to think of where a cop's wife's mind would go when she got that kind of phone call, Guardian or not. He wiped the tears away from Jenny's eyes. "I'm not going anywhere."

"For now," countered Jenny, quietly muttering under her breath.

The words and their tone weren't lost on Ryan. "Jenny, you heard about everything that's going on..."

"I know, I know," Jenny stopped her husband's attempt at comforting words with a raised hand. "And right now I know there's nothing more important for either of us than being here, trying to save the world. It just..."

"Doesn't stop you from worrying?"

Jenny smiled through her tears, knowing that her husband was right. "Occupational hazard of a wife and mom, I guess..."

Ryan smiled in return. "How did you get involved with all this?"

"Alexis," she admitted. "About a week after Thanksgiving she took me to my first group meeting. Been pitching in whenever I could ever since."

Ryan shook his head in amazement. "No wonder you were able to be so supportive all the time..."

"I had a lot of help," she agreed with a blushing smile. "Just...not always help you knew about." Her tone quickly turned serious, though, as her mind focused on the one question she had coming out of the meeting. "Why didn't you tell me about the investigation into Senator Bracken? And Beckett's mom's murder?"

Ryan's smile faded. "Not my story to tell," he shrugged, trying to dodge the question.

"Bull," Jenny spat out in a whisper, not letting him off the hook for a second. "Your captain was one of those dirty cops she mentioned, wasn't he? That's why you all closed ranks after his funeral? And you never talked to me about the investigation into her shooting, even after Beckett and Esposito got suspended over it?" Reluctantly, Ryan nodded...a gesture that broke Jenny's heart. "Don't *ever* do that to me again," she warned. "I can do an awful lot to help you, but I can't do *anything* if you don't let me in. Is. That. Clear?"

Ryan chuckled at his wife's determined stance, knowing he could never refuse her anything. "Yes, ma'am," he relented with a renewed smile. "It'll never happen again."

"Good," said Jenny, satisfied with her husband's response. "I'd hate to have to sic Katya on you..."

* * *

After Alexis and Martha left the meeting to go take care of...whatever Network duties they had to take care of, Castle took the opportunity to catch up with his girlfriend, who was sitting on the edge of the conference room table, watching her father leave to catch up with his research team. "How are you, Kate?" he asked her.

"A little overwhelmed, to be honest," Beckett admitted quietly. "Part of me wants to be furious that an underground vigilante group was operating right under our noses and we never knew about it, but..."

"But when you realize that the group is run by your dad, my mother and daughter, a Fed, a Homeland Security Agent and our Captain, it's a little hard to call them vigilantes, isn't it?"

"Not without tarring and feathering us with the same brush," Beckett admitted. "I mean come on, it's not like we're always working strictly within the confines of the law either..."

Castle nodded, agreeing with Beckett's basic point. "Of course, we're working outside of the basic laws of science most of the time, too..." he teased her, eliciting a small smile in return. "And let's face it, if we didn't have them to lean on right now..." His thoughts steered back to the toughest part of the meeting. "Speaking of which, how's your dad holding up? It can't have been easy to find out your wife died because of a giant conspiracy..."

"I'm guessing it's helping to have something else to focus his mind on right now..." replied Beckett.

"Like stopping the end of the world?" asked Castle.

Beckett nodded. "Although I wouldn't be surprised if he's got a couple of members of his 'research team' trying to find everything he can possibly find on Senator Bracken..."

"And if he somehow finds out which cops the Senator was blackmailing?"

Beckett shrugged. "At this point, does it really matter?"

"Honored ones?"

Castle and Beckett looked up to see two very familiar faces in the doorway. Castle opened his mouth to address them...but then he remembered the one rule Fallon kept stressing about life in the Network. "I'm sorry, but can you guys tell me...?"

The two women didn't miss a beat. "Down here," Ann Hastings replied, "is the only place where I still allow myself to be called Lone Vengeance. Sentimental reasons."

"So the heroine has hung up her cowl for good?" asked Castle.

Hastings nodded. "Most of us have. Word of your exploits spread through the superhero community like wildfire. We all understood pretty quickly that the way we could do the most good was to help you guys. So those of us who were still active retired and re-focused our energies into becoming what we liked to call Team Sidekick. We were one of the earliest groups."

Beckett found herself smiling. "It's good to see you found a better way to channel your desire to do some good."

Karpowski chimed in, "If you two will come with us, a few people have thrown together a little dinner in your honor."

Realizing they were the only ones left in the conference room, Castle and Beckett followed the two women through the labyrinth of hallways. Beckett decided it was her turn to get the story. "Why am I not surprised to see you down here...?"

"Curly Sue," Karpowski replied, the look on her face daring them to ask her to explain the code name.

She wasn't disappointed. Castle, eyes wide with disbelief, asked the question that was at the front of both his and his girlfriend's minds. "Curly Sue? Really?"

"Yeah," Karpowski explained, "apparently somebody around here thought I looked like a grown-up version of the girl on the old movie poster, and the name just stuck..."

"How long have you been a part of the Network?" asked Beckett.

"Since the four of you and Phoenix disappeared outside the elevator during the anthrax case," Karpowski replied. "He and I came in here pretty close to the same time. My, uh...my sister had been in Central Park." Beckett watched the eyes of her normally tough co-worker well up with tears. "After I saw the five of you vanish into thin air, well," said Karpowski, "let's just say I had a tough time buying all of that 'miracle' business the press was throwing around. It wasn't long after that that I found a group that met at the precinct...and the rest, as they say, is history."

Beckett squeezed her co-worker's shoulder in a show of support. "How much have you figured out?"

"I figured out Ryan was the Mùshī when you guys were going after Tyson," Karpowski replied, only just loud enough for Beckett to hear. "And I'm pretty sure Dr. Parish was the one who saved my sister. Which means Esposito is probably the Xiānzhī..."

The shudder that ran through Karpowski wasn't lost on Beckett. "What?"

"Nothing," Karpowski countered, "I just...won't be shaking his hand again any time soon." Beckett smiled, understanding the hesitancy.

The group reached the room where dinner was being served. Castle let out a low whistle of amazement. "*This* is a few people?"

"We had to turn people away," replied Hastings. When she noticed the looks of amazement on Castle and Beckett's faces, Hastings smiled. "You guys really have no idea how many lives you've changed, do you?"

"I'm starting to think I don't," Beckett exclaimed in shock.

Karpowski continued deeper into the room, speaking loudly to be heard over the echoing din of the crowd who were chatting excitedly around her. "C'mon. Everyone else is at a head table in the back."

Castle's eyes darted around the large room, mentally trying to estimate how many people counted as a 'few'. "There must be three hundred people in this room..."

"Probably 'bout right," said Karpowski.

"You do stuff like this a lot?" asked Beckett, slowing down the group to take in the scene.

"First time for dinner," Hastings replied. "We've had a couple of big meetings, but not many. Too many people coming in and out..."

Castle asked, "so what's the difference tonight?"

"The Code Red," replied Karpowski. "I don't know anyone here who hasn't put two and two together. You guys showing up the week of December 21st? All the ritual kills?"

"The end of the world is coming," declared Hastings with a sigh. "Might as well party while we've got the chance."

* * *

Two hours later, the party was in full swing. Castle, having cast a spell to soundproof the building, took the opportunity to polish off a second piece of cheesecake while watching the members of the Network hit the hastily created dance floor.

Beckett couldn't help but smile as she watched her boyfriend watching the group of people celebrating around them. "What's on you mind, Castle?"

Castle sat back, taking in their surroundings. "I feel like I need to do something for these people," he said. "Pay them back for their hospitality."

Beckett raised a cautious eyebrow. "What are you thinking?"

Castle looked up at the ceiling of the warehouse, turning his chair around so he was facing the wall behind them. "You can tell if a wall is load-bearing, right?"

"Yeah..." Beckett replied warily.

"What about the wall behind us?"

Beckett studied the top of the wall and the connections between the wall and the floor, noting the slight sinking. "This is a load-bearing wall, Castle. What are you thinking?"

Castle called Fallon back from the dance floor. "You guys look like you're kind of cramped for space in here," Castle told the agent.

Fallon shrugged. "We do what we can with what we have," he said.

"How would you like some more room to work with?" asked Castle.

Fallon started to share Beckett's look of apprehension. "What are you thinking, Castle?"

Castle closed his eyes, muttering a carefully thought out spell under his breath. Beckett and Fallon watched in amazement as the wall behind them shifted and shimmered, then vanished, leaving only thick pillars of wood behind to hold up the ceiling as the wall between the Network headquarters and the Guardians' training center disappeared.

Beckett smiled appreciatively as she took in her boyfriend's handiwork. "Nicely done, Castle."

Castle was grinning shamelessly as people in the room started to applaud. The applause only grew in strength as more members of the Network started to recognize what the wizard had just done. "The warehouse was always more space than we needed," Castle yelled out over the cheering. "I figured you could put it to better use than we have."

Fallon tipped the neck of his beer in the direction of the wizard as a salute. "We definitely can, Castle. Thanks."

* * *

**_All comments welcome! Thanks!_**


	15. Chapter 15

The party lasted until late into the night. Sometime around eleven Castle made his way through to the space that had been their old training area, creating three (soundproof) bedrooms for the Guardian couples to spend the night. Ryan and Jenny retired for the night shortly after that...the new parents appreciating the need to get sleep whenever the opportunity presented itself. Castle and Beckett followed soon after, Castle's energy reserves having been depleted from his redecorating efforts.

Lanie and Esposito, though, ate, drank, danced and enjoyed their new friends until only a handful were left. Lanie smiled as she embraced her friend...who had surprised her by staying until almost 2 in the morning. "Well, 'Grumpy'," she teased, "you have been anything but that tonight. I'm impressed."

"Yeah," Perlmutter commented as he blushed. "It's been kind of nice to finally get to share my little secret with you..."

Lanie smiled, completely understanding how her friend felt. "It's not just that. Tonight's the most relaxed I've ever seen you."

Perlmutter looked around the room, surprising himself with how many faces and names he was able to connect on sight. "These are good people," he admitted. "And with all the evil we so often see..."

"It's nice to know you have a place in the light you can come back to?" asked Lanie. Perlmutter nodded with a quiet smile. "You going to be okay getting home?"

Perlmutter waved off his friend's concern. "Someone'll drop me at the train. I *was* supposed to have tomorrow off," he teased, "but I have this sneaking suspicion that one of my co-workers is going to need me to cover for her tomorrow..."

Lanie chuckled at her friend's statement, ending their conversation in a warm embrace. "Hopefully I'll be back soon..."

Perlmutter gave Lanie an extra squeeze at the end of their hug; they both knew her last statement couldn't be guaranteed by either of them. "Lanie, if you need anything, at *all*..."

Lanie nodded as she pulled away from their embrace. "I promise, Sid, I'll call. And I *will* be back..."

Perlmutter simply gave her old friend's hand one last squeeze before walking away. Lanie watched Perlmutter as he left the warehouse for the night, then focused her attention on the man standing beside her. "Shouldn't you be passed out somewhere, Fallon?"

Fallon shrugged as he looked out over the dance floor, taking a swig from a bottle of root beer before answering. "Nah, I've got a cot in the back; I'll catch a couple hours after everyone's gone home."

Lanie's eyes widened in surprise. "You don't have anywhere else to stay tonight?"

Fallon shook his head. "It's not like I'm here on agency business..."

"You took *personal time* for this?" asked Lanie.

Fallon tilted his head, looking like he was trying to remember something. "You know, I'm not sure..."

Lanie's jaw dropped open wide enough to match the shock in her eyes. "You mean to tell me, when you got the Code Red, you just dropped everything and came running here to New York?"

Fallon's response was a casual, off-handed shrug. "It was a Code Red; you guys needed my help."

Lanie could only shake her head. "Unbelievable..." She grabbed Fallon by the wrist, working her way through his system to erase any traces of the stress and fatigue he had developed over the previous twenty-four hours. "Okay, you should be good on that couple of hours sleep, but tomorrow you let Castle conjure up a proper bedroom for you...got it?"

Fallon responded with an ear-to-ear grin. "Yes, ma'am."

Lanie rolled her eyes at Fallon's response. "And *don't* call me ma'am." Her smile, though, soon matched Fallon's as she said her last good night for the evening. The walk to her bedroom was slow and frequently interrupted, but eventually Lanie did finally fall, gratefully, into the arms of her fiancé.

Esposito felt his fiancée's exhaustion through their mind-link. _Good night?_

Lanie nodded, smiling even as she had trouble staying on her feet. _Yeah. Long night, but it was worth it. Hell of a day, huh?_

Esposito frowned as he opened the door to the bedroom. _Yeah. Hell of a day._

The distraction in Esposito's mind-voice wasn't lost on his fiancée. "Hey," Lanie quietly asked her man as she closed the door. "You okay?"

Esposito hesitated, finding it difficult to put his emotions into words. "It's just...with everything that's gone on in the past couple of days...and with the way everyone was talking tonight..."

"It's hard not to feel like we're standing at the edge of the world, staring off into the abyss?" When Esposito nodded in agreement, Lanie squeezed his hand, trying to impart as much encouragement to him as she could. "You know what's helping me to have faith right now? To be sure that we're going to get through this?"

"What?" asked Esposito, clearly sulking.

"You," Lanie replied, caressing her fiancé's cheek with her hand. "That vision you had of our wedding. Has it happened yet?" Esposito shook his head. "And has anything happened between us to lead you to believe that it's not going to happen just like you saw it?"

Esposito shook his head again, this time breaking out into a radiant smile as the words of his beloved broke through the cloud of doom-filled thoughts over his head. "No, nothing has changed."

"Then what makes you think that that vision is any less true than any of the others you've had? Baby, we *will* get through this. After all...if you think I'm going to let you get out of having a long, long life with me just because some Mayans couldn't keep their calendar straight..."

_Chica_...Esposito growled into the mind-link as he claimed her mouth with his own, _stop talking_. Every fiber of his being was crying out for his soulmate; he was desperate to connect, to feel alive...to feel like there was still a future ahead of them. Like there would always *be* a future ahead of them.

The only place he felt that way was in her arms.

* * *

Morning came too quickly for everyone. The Inner Circle gathered with the Guardians around the expanded conference table, each member quietly trying to gather their thoughts to figure out how they might contribute to the monumental task in front of them. Finally, the last member of the Inner Circle arrived...and she stared at the people around the table in amazement. "The way all of you look," exclaimed Martha, "I'm starting to wonder if the end of the world happened without me..."

"Ignore them," said Fallon. "What has your team found?"

"Well," Martha began as she sat down at her place near the middle of the table, "from what my people have told me, the other side is just as disturbed by all of this as we are."

The people at the table leaned forward, everyone sharing similar levels of surprise at Martha's first announcement. "Really?" asked Fallon. "How so?"

Martha leaned forward, matching the position of everyone else at the table. She seemed to enjoy being the center of the group's attention. "The universal scuttlebutt seems to be that everyone in the Vice President's entourage is on edge. They're starting to wonder if their boss has lost his mind."

"What about Bracken?" asked Beckett.

"He's just as bad," replied Martha. "That's one of the main reasons everyone's so worried about the Vice President."

"What's made them so worried about the Vice President's mental state?" asked Ryan.

"He's lost all ability to remember anyone's names," Martha began. "Even his closest senior staff and major campaign contributors."

That got Fallon's attention. "No one in Washington forgets the names of people with money," he exclaimed.

Martha nodded, understanding Fallon's train of thought immediately. "He's treating everyone like they're not worth standing in his shadow...except for Senator Bracken."

"And how's he treating Bracken?" asked Esposito.

"He refers to the Senator only as his sworn brother," replied Martha. "And he's the only one Russell seems to treat with any respect at all."

"Sounds like Castle's theory has been validated," said Beckett.

Fallon agreed with a nod. "I think we pretty much have to assume that we're now dealing with the Mayan Death Gods." Every face at the table fell; each member of the group knew that their already impossible mission had just grown exponentially more difficult. "Thank you, Madam Diva..."

"There's something else, Phoenix," Martha added, cutting Fallon off before he could fully dismiss her.

"What is it?" asked Fallon.

"It's about Senator Bracken. He hasn't been frustrating his people because of his behavior. He's been frustrating people by his *lack* of behavior."

Alexis frowned in confusion. "What do you mean, Grams? I don't think I follow."

"Senator Bracken has been disappearing," declared Martha. "Repeatedly. Even his Secret Service detail seems to have lost him on at least half a dozen occasions. Whatever they're planning, he seems to be the one doing all the legwork for it."

Fallon frowned, then turned to the only active police officer in the room. "Can you encourage your people to check with their CIs, see if anyone them have met with Senator Bracken or knows someone who has?"

When Gates nodded, Castle suggested, "they should also ask about the Plaza. If we're dealing with gods we've got to assume they have some magic and can change their appearances when necessary."

Everyone at the table nodded in agreement.

* * *

**_All comments welcome!_**


	16. Chapter 16

"How about your team, Professor?" Fallon asked Jim. "Any luck?"

"Not much," replied Jim with a weary sigh. "The only thing I could come up with is a ritual the Mayans would perform to ring in the new year."

"What kind of ritual?" asked Esposito.

Jim shuffled some papers in front of him before finding the printout he was looking for. "Apparently, one of the many Mayan New Year's rituals was walking over a bed of glowing coals. This was supposed to represent walking through the fires of the underworld to please the Death Gods."

"If Russell is planning to assassinate the President to usher in his reign," mused Castle, "maybe this ritual will give us a clue of how he plans to do it."

Beckett leaned forward in concentration, trying to understand her partner's train of thought. "You're thinking arson? Making the people at the Plaza walk through the fires of Hell?"

"Or a bomb," replied Castle.

"A bomb makes the most sense," agreed Fallon. "Easiest thing they could blame on someone else as well. They could start their war with a single well-planned leak to the press."

Alexis asked the group, "would Senator Bracken have the connections to hire someone to build a bomb big enough to blow up the Plaza?"

"Definitely," said Ryan. "That's probably where he's going when he's dodging his Secret Service detail."

"Yeah, but the real question isn't whether Bracken can do it," insisted Beckett. "It's how. And how can we stop it?"

Fallon got up from his chair, using the physical energy of pacing the room to try to get his thought process in motion. "It's unlikely that he'll use magic," he mused. "If Bracken and Russell are trying to pin this on a human source then they have to make it look like a human did it." Castle nodded in agreement.

"So how would Bracken blow up the Plaza and make it look like another country did it?" asked Jenny.

Fallon's eyes locked with the one man in the room he figured might be an expert on the subject. "Master Xiānzhī?" Esposito locked eyes with the agent, whose response was completely unapologetic. "You're ex-Special Forces. It's not that big of a stretch."

Esposito nodded, accepting Fallon's logic. "Radford Hayes did one thing wrong when he tried to set up that dirty bomb attack. He played his patsy too close to the vest."

"So when you found the body of Amir Alhabi..." said Fallon as he on to Esposito's train of thought.

Esposito completed the sentence. "It led Castle and Beckett right to him. See, what he *should* have done is find a foreign national with no ties to him who had the ability to pull off the bomb. You find a way to quietly lift his prints and plant them all over the device. Then, when the Feds go over the crime scene..."

"They'll have all the evidence they need to point to a country we have a problem with and declare that they attacked us," agreed Fallon.

Beckett suggested, "we should look into assaults on embassy and consulate employees..."

Castle cut her off. "That's not how I'd do it." When all eyes turned to him, Castle explained, "we have to assume that Russell and Bracken now have some access to magic, right? Prints are easy to lift. So why would they leave behind any evidence that they don't have to?"

"Still," Beckett insisted, "it doesn't hurt to look. Even if we know that Russell and Bracken have access to magic...which we don't, we're just assuming...how magic works can vary greatly depending on who or what is using it. They could be getting fingerprints from removing people's fingers for all we know."

"And with all the people who have been sacrificed to them," said Ryan, "they could easily use any of them for fingerprints."

"The Master Mùshī is correct," agreed Fallon. "But that means, unfortunately, that even if we had the device in our hands right now, all it will most likely do is point us to a corpse." He sat back down in his chair, far enough out of his element to be out of ideas. "It's hard not to assume that they'll just use magic to get everything they need..."

Everyone slumped back in their chairs, agreeing with Fallon's statement and sharing his frustration. "Still, even magic has its limits..." mused Castle. His eyes lit up as an idea sparked to life. "C4..."

"C4?" asked Beckett.

Castle leaned forward, bouncing ideas off his favorite verbal sparring partner. "In order for me to pull off a spell, I have to know *exactly* what I'm looking to do. Passionately. With every fiber of my being."

"And Bracken and Russell have no experience with explosives that we know of," said Beckett.

"Now that *might* allow them to conjure up a bunch of sticks of dynamite, but to blow up a *building*? You want something with a lot more kick."

"That's who Bracken is looking for..."

Castle nodded. "He's looking for someone with enough C4..."

"And enough *experience* with C4," added Beckett.

"To blow the building," said Castle, bringing his point home.

"So who would he go to?" asked Fallon. "Do you know anyone who might have access to those kinds of quantities of C4?"

Beckett and Castle smiled as a name echoed through their mind-link. Neither of them knew who thought of the man first; neither of them cared. They just knew he was the right guy. "Absolutely," Beckett declared.

"And the good news is that this guy's familiar with magic," added Castle. He quickly amended his statement, though, as he considered their circumstances. "Kinda."

* * *

The show, it appeared, was wrapping up. Applause filled the air as the man in the center of the circle returned a watch to one of the members of his audience. The circle slowly started to break up as some members of the audience left and others moved forward to tip their entertainer. "Thank you for your generous contribution to the Young Magician's College Fund," the magician said as a five dollar bill went into his hat. "After all, a trick is a terrible thing to waste..."

As last of the group surrounding the young magician went their separate ways, one of the two remaining people approached the man who had been center of the group's attention. "Well, well, Mr. Russell," Castle commented. "Still working the streets, I see?"

Chuck Russell rolled his eyes, smirking at Castle's implied sarcasm. "Nice to see you again too. Are you simply here to mock my career choice, or is there something I can do for you?"

Castle's temporary partner flashed her gold shield. "Detective Roselyn Karpowski, NYPD. I need to ask you a couple of questions about your...off-the-street side business."

"Side business?" asked Chuck, slightly confused. It took him a few brief moments before he understood what the detective was talking about. "Oh," Chuck quietly exclaimed, nodding when he finally caught on. "You do understand that I have no interest of entering a police station to have this conversation?"

Karpowski nodded. "That's fine by me. I would prefer not to have this conversation in the precinct."

"Really?" asked Chuck. "So this isn't about my...previous conversation with Detective..."

"No." Castle cut Chuck off emphatically, hoping to avoid any possible consequences from someone saying Beckett's name in public. "We're hoping you can help us as a source, not accusing you as a suspect."

Chuck visibly relaxed. "Oh! In that case, how can I help you?"

"We're working a case where we believe our prime suspect is looking to acquire large quantities of C4," replied Karpowski.

Chuck tensed up slightly. "How large are we talking here, Detective?"

"Enough to take out a building," replied Castle.

"Wow," Chuck mouthed quietly, growing more uncomfortable as he did the math. He started looking away from Castle and Karpowski and at the area surrounding them. Seemingly satisfied that he being monitored or recorded, Chuck moved closer to Karpowski to cut down on the chances of someone being able to read his lips. "I know some people who might have...access to those kinds of quantities of what you're looking for."

Karpowski played along with Chuck's conspiratorial gestures. "You do?"

Chuck nodded. "There's just one problem."

"What is it?" asked Castle.

"These guys I'm talking about? I've been trying to get a hold of them for a week," said Chuck.

Castle and Karpowski each regarded their 'source' with arms folded across their chests. "Oh, really?" Karpowski asked skeptically.

"Yes, really," Chuck spat out unapologetically. "These guys wanted to hire me for their company Christmas party. My *point* is that both of these guys...who have *families*, by the way...these guys have been missing for almost a week. No one can find either of them."

* * *

"Chuck Russell's story checks out," Esposito declared after he got off the secure phone line in the warehouse. "My friend in Missing Persons found paperwork on both Raymond McGarrity and Desmond Brady. Their wives reported the men missing about a week ago."

Fallon seemed disturbed by Esposito's news, and turned to Castle to confirm the rest of Chuck's story. "How much C4 did he say these men had access to?"

"5 pounds each," replied Karpowski.

Fallon grimaced; the expression confused Alexis. "I don't understand," she asked the group, "how much damage could that much C4 do?"

"A pound and a quarter of C4 can destroy a truck," replied Fallon.

Alexis flinched in response. "Wow," she exclaimed. "And ten pounds of it is now missing?"

"At least."

Fallon smiled as he recognized the new voice entering the discussion. "Dragonslayer. Nice of you to join us."

Agent Jordan Shaw rolled her eyes at the greeting she received from the agent. "Good to see you too, Phoenix. Curly Sue, a pleasure, as always." She then turned her attention to the five others joining them at the table. Her greeting was warm, with a clear reverence. "Honored ones...it's good to see you again."

"A pleasure to see you as well...Dragonslayer," said Castle, carefully greeting Shaw to acknowledge her Network codename. "It sounds like you're familiar with our...situation?"

Shaw nodded. "Iron Lady filled me in on my way here. She told me to tell you that the CIs came up empty, by the way."

The group was clear in expressing their frustration at the news. Fallon, however, decided to focus on the potential information they did have. "Sounds like you have more information than what the Iron Lady could have given you."

"I do," Shaw told the group. "Agent Avery transferred to the New York Office three months ago. The day before the Code Red, he tipped me off to a rash of disappearances in the city. A dozen men have gone missing in the city in the past few days. Not *dead*. Missing. And there was only one thing that these men had in common: they each had access to bomb making supplies and at *least* five pounds of C4."

* * *

**_Sometimes I love the problem-solving aspects of writings about cases. Sometimes it's a fight to just get through...sentence by sentence. This one was a *fight*. I promise we'll jump into the action in the next chapter. Until then, I'd love to hear what you think!_**


	17. Chapter 17

"*Sixty* pounds of C4?" exclaimed Esposito.

Shaw nodded. "Between them, that's how much they have available. At a minimum."

"And if one pound of C4 can take out a truck..." mused Alexis.

"Then sixty can do a hell of a lot of damage," said Fallon.

Castle asked what everyone was thinking. "Enough to take out the building?"

Esposito shrugged. "Not sure about that, but it's more than enough to take out the President and a whole room full of politicians."

"How would they get that much explosive into the reception?" asked Alexis.

Castle's eyes widened as he realized exactly how he would do it. "Beer..."

Fallon rolled his eyes. "Little early to pull the round for the table thing, isn't it?"

"No," Castle insisted, rolling his eyes as he realized that no one else had caught on to his idea. "That's how I'd get that much explosive into the hotel. Sixty pounds is a just over a third of the weight of a keg."

Beckett caught on to her partner's train of thought. "You put in a false bottom, fill the top of the keg with beer..."

"And no one would be the wiser," said Castle.

Everyone at the table leaned forward, immediately accepting the logic in Castle's theory. "Would the bomb sniffing dogs still be able to smell the C4 in a beer keg?" asked Ryan.

"Probably," Fallon replied, "but that's if they even think to have a bomb sniffing dog go over the alcohol delivery."

"They wouldn't, normally?" asked Esposito.

Fallon shook his head...but then his eyes lit up as he remembered their advantage. "Mistress Lièrén, would *you* be able to smell C4 if Russell and Bracken tried to hide it in a keg of beer?"

Beckett nodded. "Absolutely."

"Then we'll have the Mistress Yīzhì change your face and get you into the kitchen at the hotel tomorrow night," declared Fallon. "Hopefully we'll find the bomb before they have a chance to set it off."

"You got it," said Beckett, nodding.

Jim's mind was hung up on a problem he had with Fallon's plan. "Wait a second...even if she finds the bomb and can somehow defuse it, how are we going to tie it back to Senator Bracken?"

None of the Guardians wanted to look Jim in the eye at that moment. Finally, Beckett found the words to address her father's question. "Dad...almost everyone who got possessed by the black fog was dead when it left them. At this point, we pretty much have to assume that the Vice President and Senator Bracken are already dead. We're not going to be able to arrest them, so we just have to stop them any way we can."

Jim's face fell as he accepted his daughter's explanation with a quiet nod. Beckett squeezed her father's hand as Castle got everyone's focus back on the attack they were there to stop. "What about the rest of us?"

Fallon considered the tools and obstacles of the other Guardians at his disposal. "Master Xiānzhī is still wanted by the Secret Service, so he definitely needs a makeover to go out in public. And Master Mùshī should probably get one as well, just to be safe...but I think it might work to our advantage to *not* give you a disguise."

"Really?" asked Beckett. "How are you thinking?"

"I think Richard Castle, world famous playboy novelist, should attend the fundraiser," said Fallon. "There's no doubt in my mind that we need you in the ballroom to protect the President; if everything goes south, you'll be our last line of defense and probably our only hope to get him out of there. My only debate was whether or not you needed a disguise. And I think your public persona works to our advantage here: if you hit the red carpet *without* Beckett on your arm, it will create enough of a distraction that it will give everyone else more time to stop the attack."

Castle eyed Fallon warily. "Why do I have a feeling I know who you want me to escort to the fundraiser?"

"That would be me," said the familiar voice behind him. "And for the record, *you* would be escorting *me*."

Even though the voice was exactly who he was expecting, it was still hard for Castle not to choke on his coffee. He spun his chair around to the conference room door to find himself face-to-face with his publisher and second ex-wife. Castle opened his mouth to speak...only to quickly close it when he realized that he had no idea what Gina's code name could possibly be.

Gina, graciously, came to his rescue with a short, sharp bow and a room-commanding smile. "Miss Marple, at your service."

Castle finally found his voice to speak. "But...how...?"

"Where are Black Pawn's offices?" Gina countered simply.

A headache sparked in the back of Castle's mind as he put two and two together. "In the ABC Studios building on 44th and Broadway," he groaned.

Gina nodded. "I had front row seats to the whole thing. Been working with the Network in some way, shape or form ever since."

"And I'm going to be your escort to the fundraiser?" Castle asked for confirmation. Gina nodded.

Beckett, reluctantly, saw the beauty in Fallon's plan. "Richard Castle dumps his muse to go back to his on-again, off-again publisher? Yeah, you two would definitely be the talk of the ballroom that night...if not all of New York City."

Castle couldn't help but notice the strong note of jealousy in Beckett's response. _You okay with this?_ he asked through their mind-link.

_Not really, _Beckett replied. _Reminds me too much of when you let Meredith stay at the loft while Alexis had mono. But Fallon *is* right. It's a great distraction. I'll get over it._

Castle grabbed Beckett's hand, squeezed it, and held on, pouring his love and devotion to his girlfriend through their mind-link until she could no longer ignore it. _Kate...no matter who I'm around, no matter who I get seen with in public...you know I will *always* come home to you, right?_

Beckett squeezed her boyfriend's hand to show her acknowledgement of Castle's commitment to her. _I know. _

Fallon cleared his throat a couple of times to get the attention of the distracted couple. "Is everything okay, honored ones?" Castle and Beckett both nodded. "Then we'll reconvene in the morning," Fallon announced to the group. "Unless anyone has any questions?"

Everyone around the table shook their heads.

* * *

As the meeting broke up, Castle had only one person on his mind. He crossed the conference room to sit next to his partner. "Kate," he asked quietly, "are you *sure* you're okay with this?"

Beckett turned to face her partner and nodded. "Castle," she insisted, "I'm *fine*. This is no different than me having to go on an undercover mission with Demming or something like that."

"Yeah, and I know how I'd feel if you were going on an undercover mission with Schlemming..." Castle grumbled.

Beckett was just about to re-insist that she was fine when her mind caught up to the tail end of her boyfriend's last statement. "Rick...wait, did you just call him *Schlemming*?"

Castle quickly backtracked on his previous statement. "Demming! I said Demming...anyway...this is about *you*, Kate. I want to make sure you're okay."

Beckett smirked with a raised eyebrow. The change of subject was not lost on her, but she decided that she was willing to let it go. "Castle, this isn't about you or me. This is about finding that bomb before the bad guys can kill several thousand people with it. That's what's most important here."

Castle grabbed his girlfriend's hands and held them in his own, his face clearly showing the overwhelming love he felt for the woman beside him. "Kate, I..." Beckett squeezed her boyfriend's hands, not needing his words to give voice to the emotions she felt pouring through their bond. "Promise me that you'll be careful while you look for that bomb?"

Beckett traced Castle's eyebrow before caressing his cheek with her hand. "Always."

* * *

Ryan opened the door to his family's bedroom, his face lighting up when the first image to greet him was his wife, relaxing in an armchair and feeding their daughter. "Hey," he quietly greeted his wife, "how are you two doing?"

"We're doing just fine," Jenny replied with a smile, shifting the newborn from being fed to being burped. "I'm just getting her ready to sleep for...well, for however long she'll sleep. How was the meeting?"

Ryan curled up on the chair's ottoman with a weary sigh. "We're pretty sure it's going to be a bomb," he told her. "But other than that...we don't know much. So we're kind of in a holding pattern until tomorrow night."

"The reception is tomorrow night, right?" asked Jenny.

Ryan nodded. "We're all going down there tomorrow, going to try to do whatever we can to stop it...if we can."

"If you can?" Jenny asked, surprised. "Wow..."

"What is it?" asked Ryan.

Jenny put baby Alexis in the nearby bassinet to sleep. "It's nothing, I guess..." she shrugged. "Just that you guys are usually more...confident than this."

Ryan nodded. "Yeah, I know. But this case...there's so much on the line here, and we're working from so little information...did I tell you that tomorrow we'll mostly be relying on Beckett's ability to sniff out C4?"

Jenny let out a quiet chuckle. "I'm sure she can handle it." She wrapped her arms around Ryan's waist and gently squeezed, embracing her husband as they both watched their daughter sleep.

As Jenny nuzzled her head into Ryan's chest, he rested his chin on the top of her head. "There's so much on the line if we fail. The world she might have to grow up in..." he sighed.

"Then you won't fail," insisted Jenny. She twisted her head to make she could look her husband in the eye. "I know you, Kevin Ryan. The more you've got to fight for, the harder you fight. Now, when you've got so much to fight for..." Jenny turned to take one more long look at their sleeping daughter before she looked back up into the eyes of her husband to drive her point home. "You. Won't. Fail."

Ryan pushed his wife's hair away from her face, tucking it behind her ear as she smiled up at him. "I wish I had your faith," he said.

Jenny simply smiled, tightening her embrace around her husband as she cradled her head on his chest. "That's the beauty of being married, Kevin. Tonight I can have faith for the both of us."

* * *

**_I know, I know, I promised action tonight...but right now my brain is mush. Therefore, since I'm still stalling for narrative time...you get mushy chapter. Like it? Don't like it? Let me know. Either way, action chapter, coming up next!_**


	18. Chapter 18

**In case you haven't figured it out yet, this is a much longer chapter than normal. Sit back and relax...if you can...hehehe...**

* * *

Stephanie Frederickson was desperately trying to calm the pounding of her racing heartbeat as she walked to the employee's service entrance of the Plaza hotel, flashing her catering ID to the Secret Service agent posted at the door. When she successfully passed that barrier to entering the hotel, Stephanie found that she was able to relax...but only slightly. She launched right into her next challenge: testing her connection to her old mentor and friend. _Teach? You there?_

Across the street from the hotel, Ryan tried to resist the urge to pace, stamping his feet to keep warm against the bracing wind whipping its way down Central Park South. _I'm here, Steph, _he projected down their mind link. _You in?_

_So far, so good, _she replied as she put her purse and coat in an open locker. _I still wish I could project a perception filter like you can, though. I'd be a lot less worried that they were suspicious of me._

Ryan smiled, even though he knew Stephanie couldn't see it. _Steph, there's nothing in your background that would make them suspicious of you. Relax. Focus on doing your job._

_Easy for you to say, _Stephanie teased. _You don't have to worry about stopping a domestic terrorist while balancing a tray of passed hors d'oeuvres in your hands._

_And neither do *you*, _insisted Ryan. _All you have to do is keep your eyes, ears and mind open._

_Leave the world saving to the superheroes? _asked Stephanie.

Ryan chuckled through the mind-link, still slightly uncomfortable at being classified as a 'superhero'. _Yeah._

_In that case, shhhh! I need to pay attention to this. _Stephanie completely turned her focus on the server's 'orientation'. The first part of the meeting was pretty standard: going over the menu, tasting the food, and alerting various servers when their tables had pre-ordered special custom plates.

The second part of the orientation, though, was far less standard. With the number of high-level political guests expected at the reception, the Secret Service detail was massive, and, apparently, they seemed to think that the wait staff were all potential assassins in waiting. Each server was separated and frisked thoroughly by a Secret Service agent, then their ID card was double-verified against some sort of remote background checking system. _Wow, _Stephanie commented into her mind link, _they seem to have really tight security for this thing. You guys are *sure* about this bomb?_

_Not completely, _Ryan shrugged, watching the nearby streetlamp flicker to life. _But enough evidence has piled up that we can't take any chances. Beckett, have you made it to the loading bay yet?_

* * *

In the loading bay, a redhead with horn-rimmed glasses and a clipboard was watching the deliveries as carefully as if they were being loaded into her own house. _I'm here, _Beckett replied through the mind-link. _A bunch of the wine and hard liquor is apparently being served from the Plaza's own inventory, but the beer is being brought in through a third-party vendor. Castle could be right about this._

_How soon until you receive the beer delivery? _asked Ryan.

_Five minutes, if the schedule I have here is correct, _said Beckett.

* * *

Stephanie kept one part of her mind focused on the conversation between the two detectives...but only a small part. The vast majority of her attention had to be focused on the Secret Service briefing about which doors they were allowed to go into and out of.

Especially since the servers were collectively threatened with being shot on sight if they went through the wrong door.

_Wouldn't want that to happen, now, would we? _teased Ryan.

Stephanie shushed her teacher's voice in her head, choosing instead to focus on the Secret Service agent's declaration that any server who goes out for a cigarette break would have their ID badge re-checked on their return. That was the last thing the Secret Service agent had to say, and the meeting broke up a moment later. _One hour until first guests arrive, _Stephanie announced into the mind-link. _I hope I can remember enough of that charming lecture to not get myself shot..._

Ryan couldn't help but chuckle into the mind-link. _Don't worry, Javi and I should be able to get in there soon. Beckett, any luck with the beer delivery?_

_No, _Beckett replied. Her frustration was evident in the mind-link. _I checked every keg in the shipment. No C4, no weird-sounding kegs, nothing._

_So the alcohol delivery was a bust? _Castle exclaimed.

_Looks like it, _replied Beckett.

_Can you get into the ballroom? _Esposito asked his boss. _Maybe get a read on where the bomb is since it's not with the alcohol delivery..._

Beckett shook her head even though her team couldn't see it. _Sorry. I don't have clearance outside the kitchen area. Secret Service would probably shoot me on sight._

_I might be able to help with that_, Ryan volunteered. His mischievous smile could almost be heard through the mind-link. _Meet us in the loading dock in ten minutes._

* * *

Alexis Castle watched her father twirl his untied bow tie in his hands for the third time, his frustration growing with every failed attempt to tie the fabric together. Finally, she could stand it no longer. "Here," she insisted, crossing the room to meet him in front of his full-length mirror, "let me."

Castle seemed grateful. "Thanks."

"Why are you so nervous, dad?" asked Alexis. "You go to receptions like this all the time."

"The bomb wasn't where we...where I thought it would be," Castle admitted.

Alexis drew in a sharp breath, knowing what that meant. "So you guys are back at square one?" she gasped. When Castle nodded, Alexis tried to help her father into his tuxedo jacket...but her shaking hands betrayed her ability to be supportive. "I don't suppose I could convince you to stay home tonight?" she asked.

Castle shook his head. He turned around, taking his daughter's nervous hands into his own. "Fallon was right this afternoon. I might be the only one who can save the President's life tonight. I think you know that." Alexis let out a slow, nervous breath and quietly nodded. "And you still want me to stay home?"

Alexis started to nod again, but stopped herself when her mind worked through the consequences of her father's statement. "I know you need to be there tonight," Alexis relented, "I just..."

"You're scared I might have to give up my life to save his?" When Alexis nodded again, Castle pulled his daughter into a fierce hug. "Sweetheart...I promise you, I will do everything in my considerable power to make sure that when you wake up tomorrow morning, the President is still the President and I will still be there to make you a s'morelet in the morning. Okay?"

Alexis nodded into his chest. "You better..." Then, remembering *everything* her father had said, she looked up to meet her father eye-to-eye. "Except that part about the s'morelet..."

"Not my finest culinary moment?"

"Dad, not even *close*..."

* * *

The red headed 'beverage manager' paced the back of the loading bay, nervously balancing waiting for her friends with trying to not attract the attention of the Secret Service agent posted at the door. Two college students approached the nervous woman...but did not speak to her. _What took you guys so long?_ Beckett asked into the mind-link.

_It's only been ten minutes, Beckett, _replied Ryan.

_It has? _asked Beckett. Finally checking her watch, the detective realized that they were, in fact, meeting at the time they had previously agreed upon. _Sorry._

Ryan and Esposito blew off their boss' impatience. Ryan nodded over to the Secret Service agent. _That him? _Beckett nodded. _Okay, you take the lead._

Beckett nodded again, and the group made the short walk to the service entrance. "Badges, please," the agent asked her. Beckett handed her badge to the man, who checked her name against the list of approved service staff. The agent then turned his attention to the two college students escorting the 'beverage manager' he had just checked in. "Badges," he demanded of the two men, all politeness gone from his voice.

Ryan didn't need the agent to be polite. I_ don't need to see your badges._

"I don't need to see your badges."

_I checked these two in already._

"Yeah, I checked you two in already."

_Sorry about that, have a good night._

"Sorry about that. You have a good night."

The agent turned back to his phone, where a game of "Angry Birds" held his complete attention...allowing Ryan and Esposito to pass him without any further acknowledgement.

The group moved quickly, but cautiously through the back corridors of the hotel. _Anything so far, Beckett?_ asked Esposito.

Beckett opened her sense of smell as far as she dared. The scents from the party, the kitchen, and the rest of the hotel threatened to overload her, and she staggered under the stress of the increased workload.

_Focus on each smell one by one, _Ryan projected into the mind-link. He created a connection between them and poured extra power through it, giving Beckett everything she needed to handle the environment around them.

Beckett's focus shifted as she successfully neared the end of her task, her head tilting slightly in the direction of the ballroom. _C4, _she declared. _It's faint, but I can definitely smell it._

_Lead on, _Ryan projected through the link. He brought up the rear, pulling his energy away from helping Beckett and pouring it into creating a perception filter around him and his partners.

The trio stopped in the center of the ballroom's dance floor. The stop concerned Esposito. _What is it, Beckett? You smell the C4 here?_

_That's just it, _insisted Beckett, _I smell it, but not the way I thought I would. Instead of one big strong concentration of it, I smell a little of it all over the place. Radiating from this spot._

No one stopped what they were doing; no one paid any attention to the three people huddled back-to-back in a defensive posture. People simply walked around the group like they weren't there. To anyone in the room, Beckett and her team might as well have been a column built in the middle of the dance floor...anyone, that is, save for one waitress watching her friends while she set her tables for the evening. _Ladies and gentlemen, _Stephanie chuckled into the mind-link, _the master at work..._

_Save it, Steph. _Esposito cut off the young woman's teasing quickly, turning his attention immediately to his partner. _Can you still filter us if we split up? _When Ryan nodded, Esposito suggested to his friends, _then we need to split up. This is a big ballroom, and we only have twenty minutes before the first guests start arriving and an hour before the President does._

* * *

Castle stared out the window at the trees of Central Park, his fingers nervously tapping the frame of the car door as the limousine patiently waited its turn in the red carpet line. Gina carefully studied the worried face of her distracted ex-husband. "You really love her, don't you?"

Gina's voice startled Castle's focus back to his immediate present. "Sorry," he apologized, blushing.

"It's okay," Gina reassured him, "I know your mind is elsewhere."

Castle reached out his hand and covered Gina's as it rested on the seat space between them. "Thank you for coming tonight. You didn't have to take me with you tonight..."

"And have the death of a President on my conscience? Thank you, but no," Gina countered with a chuckle. "Rick, when you first started following Kate around I thought it was just going to be a passing fad..."

Castle cut off his ex-wife. "Gina, we don't have to do this..."

"No," Gina countered, cutting Castle off, "considering where we're headed, this is *exactly* what I need to be doing." She took a deep breath to steady her nerves before continuing. "Anyway, at first I thought this was a fad. Then...I thought it was some sort of crazy, lazy rich boy hobby. But then, after that whole thing with that bomb, and that other thing with the serial killer...I knew you were far more committed to this whole playboy crimefighter act than you've been to anything other than Alexis. Even your writing. And then a dragon flew by my office window..." Gina chuckled quietly as she looked out the window, watching as the Plaza's front entrance slowly came into view. Knowing they wouldn't have more than a minute before the door behind her opened, Gina made sure to speak what was on her mind. "Rick, you were clearly meant to do more with your life than just write pulp fiction novels. You make a difference. More than I think you know. I'm just glad I get the chance to help."

It took Castle a moment to process everything he had just been told, but once he had...it took him another moment to find his voice again. "Thank you, Gina."

"You're welcome," Gina said as the door of the limousine opened behind her. "Shall we go save the President now?"

* * *

Beckett looked around the ballroom in frustration, having worked her way through the increasing crowds of wealthy party-goers and around the perimeter of the room. _Nothing, _she declared to her team. _I got nothing._

_Me neither, _agreed Esposito.

_Same, _Ryan projected into the mind-link. _And if the bomb's in here, it's going to be next to impossible to find without getting caught ourselves. I can't filter this many people around us all night._

It was then that Stephanie, hors d'oeuvres tray in hand, noticed a tuxedo-clad man shuffling slowly toward the back of the ballroom. _Hey teach, _she thought in the mind-link, _see that guy over there?_

Ryan pulled the image out of his protégé's mind, then scanned the room until he found the same man. _Yeah?_

_He's heading toward a door the Secret Service told us we'd be shot if we went through, _thought Stephanie.

Esposito turned his attention in the direction that Stephanie and Ryan were also looking. They watched as the man shuffled through the door without receiving so much as a second look from the Secret Service. _So why are they letting *him* go through that door?_

Stephanie's eyes widened as she realized what was happening. _They're not *allowing* him to go through the door. They don't *see* him there._

Ryan caught on to Stephanie's thought immediately. _He's being perception filtered, _Ryan declared to the group. _And I'm not the one doing it._

_We should probably see where this guy's headed, _thought Stephanie. She handed her tray to a bewildered party guest. _Can you cover me, teach?_

The party guest grew even more bewildered as the server who had just handed him a tray of crab puffs disappeared. Ryan, though was far more annoyed than bewildered. _Some *warning* next time, Steph..._

* * *

Gina and Castle worked their way through the room, engaging in typical charming, polite party conversation with any and all friends and acquaintances that they ran into. Behind their backs, though, the couple soon realized that they were, indeed, the talk of the room. "Well," Gina declared through a clenched-teeth smile, "mission accomplished on our end so far. How's the bomb squad doing?"

"Following a lead," Castle replied, "but they haven't found it yet."

Gina tried not to let the shock of fear running down her spine show on her face. "Well then," she declared with excessive confidence, "it seems we have more schmoozing to do."

"What about boozing and cruising?" asked Castle.

"Save it for after they defuse the bomb," Gina replied, not missing a trick even as her mind was occupied with how to entertain the old friend coming up to talk to them. "Mayor Wheldon! Always a pleasure to see you, sir."

Wheldon gallantly kissed Gina's hand in greeting. "The pleasure is mine, as always, Miss Cowell." The mayor then turned his attention to his old friend. "Ricky! I wasn't expecting to see you here tonight, what with the end of the world coming tomorrow and all...I figured you'd be over at the 12th taking in the show."

"Yeah, well," said Castle, smoothly reciting the previously decided cover story, "Beckett and I are pretty much over...and well, it's not like I don't have enough material for a dozen more books, right?"

"Right..." Wheldon replied skeptically. It was clear that the Mayor wasn't buying any of the cover story. Deciding to favor discretion over answers, Wheldon turned his attention back to Castle's date. "So, Gina...how have you been?"

Gina's answer was cut off by the strains of "Hail to the Chief" coming through the ballroom's sound system. Castle, Gina and the Mayor applauded with the rest of the room as the President entered...then gawked with surprise at who entered behind him. Mayor Wheldon spoke up first. "I know the President was expected to attend tonight," he told the couple beside him, "but was the Vice President scheduled to be here, too?"

"No," Gina replied warily, "he wasn't."

Castle's response was equally guarded. "And neither was Senator Bracken..."

"Ladies and Gentlemen," a voice announced as the President took his place at the head table, "dinner will be served shortly. Please take your seats."

* * *

Stephanie, Beckett, Ryan and Esposito followed their 'mystery man' through the back corridors of the hotel as he mindlessly walked ahead of them. _Why aren't we just tackling this guy and questioning him? _asked Esposito.

_He's not just being filtered, he's being mind controlled, _replied Beckett.

Stephanie and Ryan nodded in agreement. _If we break that link he's not going to remember where he's been or where he was going, _Ryan added.

All conversation then ceased Mystery man then opened a back stairwell and descended the staircase. Beckett noticed the difference as soon as they followed him one flight down. _The C4 concentration is getting stronger, _she declared, _our friend here is leading us to the bomb._

_Be careful, Kate, _Castle declared into their bond-link.

_Always, _Beckett replied.

The team filed out of the staircase in the sub-basement of the hotel, and while Stephanie was still entirely focused on the man they were following...the rest of the team was starting to take an assessment of their surroundings. _C4 smell is strongest down here, _announced Beckett.

_There's a reason for that, _Esposito projected into the mind-link. _Look up there. _The Guardians looked in the direction Esposito guided them. _That's trip wire. It links bombs together so they go off in succession._

_Beckett, _Ryan exclaimed, eyes widening in realization, _you said you never smelled one big concentration of C4? Just smaller quantities spread out over a wide range..._

_Smaller quantities spread over a wide range..._Castle repeated into the mind-link. He gasped as his mind connected the dots, the shock of his realization knocking his thoughts out of the mind-link and into his voice as he stood without thinking. "They're not planning on *exploding* the building..."

"They're going to *implode* it," Beckett agreed in terror. It was then that she noticed one of the blobs of plastic on the ceiling. She reached up to touch it...and recoiled as a shock of very familiar energy ran through it. _Magically protected,_ she projected through the mind-link. Switching over to adjust her eyes to seeing the energy of their auras, Beckett realized what might be her worst nightmare. _The whole thing's magically protected..._

_Castle, can you get down here and disable the shield? _asked Esposito.

"No time," exclaimed Beckett. She watched in horror as the mystery man reached through the shielding, and connected two wires, completing the circuit on the master timer. _He's set the bomb. Five seconds!_

One unified thought ran through the mind-link loud and clear as the four teammates ran for the stairs. _CASTLE! GET US OUT OF HERE!_

Stephanie and the Guardians disappeared a split second before the first of the bombs exploded.

* * *

**Well? Was it worth all the buildup? You know how much I love to hear your comments!**


	19. Chapter 19

Ryan, Beckett, Esposito and Stephanie landed in an unceremonious heap in the middle of Grand Army Plaza. No one helped them up. They were too busy listening to the dozen loud bangs coming from the direction of the Plaza Hotel. The Guardians helped each other up, joining the hordes of tourists staring at the building. Knowing what the bangs meant, Stephanie and the three Guardians expected to have to watch in horror as one of their best friends died in the collapse of another major landmark.

It didn't happen.

As a tense silence fell among the group in the park, Ryan voiced the thought he knew his friends were all thinking. "It's still standing..."

"It shouldn't be," remarked Esposito.

"Castle..." Beckett exclaimed, her voice choking back a sob. When Stephanie put an arm around Beckett, though, in a gesture of comfort, the detective realized that her friends weren't seeing what she was seeing. "No, guys," she insisted, "Castle's the reason the building's still standing. Look!"

Ryan stared at his boss for a moment before widening his connection with Beckett so he could see through her eyes. The Guardian's disbelief soon turned to wonder as he recognized that the glowing blue lines he saw criss-crossing the hotel's exterior were the result of his friend carrying the weight of the building...on his own.

Beckett staggered back when a blinding flash of white light erupted to consume everything in her vision. Esposito noticed her disorientation immediately. "Are you okay?" he asked, forcing himself to stop from saying Beckett's name in such a crowded, public space.

"Can't...see..." Beckett gritted out through clenched teeth.

"Is everything light or dark?" asked Esposito, trying to narrow down the problem.

"White."

Stephanie read Beckett's mind and recognized the problem immediately. "Can you turn down your magic sight?"

Beckett nodded weakly, but seemed to gain strength as she brought the dial down to a manageable level. When her eyes adjusted to the new levels of light, the sight that lay out before her left her awestruck. At least a dozen cables of light stretched from the spot where Ryan stood beside them to the front of the hotel, where each cable branched out into thousands of tendrils of energy that mixed and intermingled with the energy Castle was using to hold up the building.

Esposito watched Beckett's eyes travel repeatedly between the hotel and his partner. Knowing that she was seeing something he wasn't, he stopped himself from saying Beckett's name again before asking her, "What's going on?"

"He's helping Castle hold up the building," she exclaimed in amazement, "but I have no idea how long they can keep this up."

Ryan, for his part, was starting to wonder the same thing. _Castle, _Ryan projected through the wide open mind-link, _we're safe outside. How can we help?_

* * *

The first of the twelve explosions got Castle's attention. By the twelfth explosion, though, everyone's attention was solely focused on the disaster enfolding around them. Panic erupted as the lights went out. The floor started to drop beneath the party guests, and the panic only grew when the floor suddenly stabilized beneath their feet, giving people a chance to run for their lives. Most of the people in the ballroom were giving no thought to how the floor had once again grown solid underneath them...

Most, but not all. Gina stood like a Guardian beside her ex-husband, using her cell phone as a flashlight and holding pepper spray at the ready in case anyone dared to move him from...whatever it was he was doing. "Castle!" she yelled out over the crashing din of panicked screams, "Any ideas as to how to get these people out of here without them trampling each other?"

Castle's answer was one word, spoken at barely above a whisper. "Phoenix..."

Fallon appeared in the room before the last of the sound had escaped Castle's lips. He quickly tried to take in his surroundings, trying to assess the situation with the few tools he had at his disposal. However, with only the panicked screams of the partygoers and the stress on Castle's face as evidence, it was hard for him to figure out what was going on. "What happened?" he asked Gina. "What do you need?"

The stress that seemed to be oppressing Castle appeared to ease as Gina told Fallon, "the bomb exploded. A dozen explosions in rapid succession. The floor fell out from underneath us, but my guess is *he* stopped it."

Fallon's eyes widened. "He's keeping the building from *imploding*?" Gina nodded.

The voice of Castle's fellow Guardian rang in his head mere moments after he felt the support helping to lift the monumental weight he was balancing. _Castle, _Ryan announced into his mind, _we're safe outside. How can we help?_

_It's a madhouse in here, _Castle replied, _can you stop the panic?_

_Done. _

The screaming stopped almost immediately. Bewildered partygoers took out their phones to use as flashlights and looked around. As people came to the realization that they weren't dead or dying, the prevailing emotion in the room seemed to be confusion. Castle turned his attention to the people who were there to assist him. "Phoenix, you need to get these people out of here. I don't know how much longer we can last..."

"We?" asked Fallon. After remembering how the screams stopped on a dime, though, Fallon quickly figured out the rest of the equation. "Ah. Master Mùshī?" When Castle nodded, Fallon countered with his only request. "I need my badge...I left it in DC." The subtle, but familiar shift in the weight of his pants pockets told him that Castle had taken care of it. "Thank you," he said, heading off to coordinate the Secret Service to assist him.

"What about me?" asked Gina.

Castle waved his hand at an empty space in the ballroom wall. A life-size, crystal-clear image of Grand Army Plaza appeared on the wall, complete with tourists gawking at the Plaza hotel in the background and Stephanie, Beckett and Esposito pacing nervously in the foreground. His instructions to his publisher and friend were simple. "Go through the wall. Send Esposito back to help Phoenix."

Gina fought to suspend her disbelief by letting her concern for her ex take priority. "But what about you?"

Castle turned his attention away from his duties for a split second...which caused the floor to shake and at least a dozen people to let out nervous screams. "I'll be better able to focus if I know you and Kate are all right," he quickly insisted. "Go. Please."

Gina was touched that Castle would still put her in any category with the woman that Gina now knew was Castle's soul mate. Not wanting to distract the wizard further, she simply squeezed his shoulder as she left. "Be safe. Be careful."

"I will," Castle gritted through clenched teeth, never taking his focus off of controlling the massive amounts of energy they were using to keep the building upright. "Go."

Gina reluctantly collected her wrap and purse, left Castle and followed the light, slowly, toward the wall of the ballroom. Trusting implicitly in Castle's ability, Gina put a hand out to touch the wall...

Her hand went straight through. Gina pulled the hand back, touching her fingers and realizing they were now as cold as the outside air had been. Grateful that she had thought to not bring a coat that needed checking, Gina pulled her wrap around her, and stepped through to the place where her hand had just been...

Kate Beckett, in her semi-permanent disguise, steadied Gina as she stepped into the chilly night air of Grand Army Plaza. "Easy there," she warned, "watch your step..."

Once she felt her balance steady underneath her, Gina turned around to look at the bus she had, apparently, stepped out of. That is, if the picture of the Grand Ballroom that consumed the plaza side of the bus was any type of indication. "I...was just there a second ago..." she exclaimed.

"My boyfriend's work, I take it?" Beckett commented, trying to keep the mood as light as she could for the sake of the bewildered woman in front of her.

Gina nodded, then turned to the man who was also helping her to stay steady. "He wants you to come through the way I did...so you can help Phoenix evacuate the ballroom." Esposito nodded, and passed through the bus without a moment's hesitation. Gina then turned to the woman who had helped her get her footing. "He wanted us both on this side of the...portal. He said he could focus better if he knew both of us were safe."

Beckett quietly nodded.

* * *

Esposito ignored the few gawking looks he received as he stepped through the wall, focusing instead on scanning the room for the man he had been sent to find. He finally found Fallon on the other side of the room, watching in frustration as the Secret Service agents moved quickly and with purpose *away* from the Homeland Security agent and into the darkness. "Problems, Phoenix?" asked Esposito.

"The Secret Service agents won't help with the evacuation," Fallon replied angrily. "They're only focusing on getting their people out."

Esposito rolled his eyes. "So what do we do?"

It was at that point that Fallon realized who he was actually talking to. "How did you get in here?"

Esposito tilted his head toward the 'hole' in the wall behind him. As he watched Fallon's eyes go wide, Esposito told him, "it leads directly to Grand Army Plaza."

"And people saw you come through?" asked Fallon. "Then why aren't they *leaving*?"

Esposito thought about the snippets of conversation he had heard while making his way through the ballroom. "Apparently, once people stopped running for their lives, they forgot why they were running at *all*. Most people seem to be just waiting for the lights to come back on."

"So they need a reason to leave?" asked Fallon. When Esposito nodded, Fallon kicked into full-on Homeland Security agent mode. "CAN I HAVE EVERYONE'S ATTENTION, PLEASE?!" he yelled out over the quiet din of the ballroom. It worked immediately; the room fell silent. "My name is Agent Mark Fallon, Homeland Security," he announced to the room with his badge in the air. "We have confirmed a credible terrorist threat against this building, and we need everyone to quickly and calmly evacuate RIGHT NOW."

The announcement seemed to work; the amount of light in the room dropped precipitously as people started to fill the exits. When the people in the room started to *crowd* the exits, though, Fallon noticed their glaring problem and the solution that was being abandoned, unused. "They're not using the wall," he told Esposito.

"I got this," Esposito declared confidently. He crossed the room, making sure to put himself in a position where the street light behind him could be clearly visible. "NYPD!" the cop yelled out as he flashed his own badge. "I got an open exit right here. Anyone wanna leave in a hurry?"

A few of the people stuck at the back of the line turned around at Esposito's invitation...then stared slack-jawed at the exit he offered them. "You want *us* to go through the *wall*?" one of the more sober members of the group asked in disbelief.

When Esposito nodded, one of the *less* sober members of the group took a look at the large group crowding the doors to the ballroom and shrugged. "Ah, whadda hell," he declared, "it'sh nod da firs time I ran inta wall..." The drunk summoned up his alcohol-infused courage, took a deep breath, and sprinted headlong through the portal...only to face-plant on the concrete sidewalk of Grand Army Plaza. Too ecstatic to feel any physical pain, the drunk picked himself up, dusted himself off and stuck his head back through the portal into the ballroom. "It worked!" he yelled to the rest of the people in the room. "Dis way goes ou'side!"

A few more brave souls, inspired by the drunk's success, cautiously made their way through the portal. When that group made it through successfully, they waived at anyone watching them on the other side. "Go on," Esposito encouraged the people on the ballroom side, "it's completely safe. But...watch your step."

* * *

Fallon watched as the partygoers evacuated the ballroom. While the rational side of his brain was satisfied with the way the exodus was going, the part that understood the reason why everyone was alive at all also understood that the building's structural integrity now had its limits. And its limits were dependent on two men...

One of whom wasn't looking too good. Castle was growing pale, sweating and shaking where he stood. Fallon watched his friend with rapidly increasing concern. "Sìfāng, are you okay?"

"Evacuation..." Castle spat out, using as little energy as possible.

"Out of the ballroom in two minutes, hotel should be clear in five. Can you make it?"

"We'll...try..."

A third voice joined the conversation. "Wait a minute, why does Rick have to 'make it'? And exactly *what* did you call him?!"

Fallon wheeled around to see Mayor Robert Wheldon standing behind him. "Mr. Mayor," the agent insisted, "I can't tell you how important it is that you leave this building. Right. Now."

"Not without Rick," Wheldon declared.

"Sir," Fallon countered, "I can promise you that I will not leave this building until Mr. Castle has evacuated safely. And I know he won't do that unless you leave. Now."

Mayor Wheldon looked at the obvious pain in his old friend's face and weighed it against the absolute determination he saw in the eyes of the Homeland Security agent. "No," Wheldon decided, "I'm not going without him."

"Bob," Castle gritted out through clenched teeth, "go. Please."

It was only when Wheldon saw the tears streaming down the cheeks of his old friend that the mayor relented. "Okay, I'll go," he agreed. "But I want an explanation..."

Fallon blew off the mayor's last demand to push the man toward the portal. Castle then turned his waning energy on the agent. "You...too..." he demanded.

"Not a chance," said Fallon, shaking his head. "I meant what I told the mayor. You're either going to teleport me out of here with you or I'm going to throw your unconscious ass through that portal. Your call."

Castle took one last look at the man in front of him and knew that Fallon was not going to be talked out of his last statement. So the wizard focused his waning energy on making sure that what needed to be done, got done. _Ryan, is anybody left in the building?_

Ryan opened his mind to see if he could hear any thoughts of anyone left to be evacuated. _Just you and Fallon, _he said.

_Kate? _Castle then asked through their bond-link, _do you hear anyone?_

_No, _Beckett agreed, _everyone's made it out. Let's go home._

Castle's warm smile could almost be heard through the bond-link. _Okay...let's go home. _The wizard grabbed Fallon's hand and used the absolute last of his energy to blink the two men out of the building to join their friends in Grand Army Plaza.

Less than a second later, floor by floor, The Plaza Hotel collapsed in a cloud of white smoke and dust.

* * *

**Yep, I'm on a writing binge. Mostly because I'm as excited to get to the end of this story as some of you are to read it. And...I'm going to *try* not to be disappointed by the lack of comments on the last chapter...*sniff*...I'm just going to assume that I'm just writing faster than you guys can keep up with reading...but I will say that getting more comments will do a lot to keep up my level of excitement...**


	20. Chapter 20

"How could this have happened?!"

The world was covered in grey dust. At least, that's the way it seemed to anyone within a quarter-mile radius of the hole at Fifth Avenue and Central Park South. Some people were walking around in a daze. Others were curled up by the brick half-wall bordering Central Park, many of them reliving in their minds a day where they had been covered in dust...just like this one. Grand Army Plaza was fast becoming a triage area of sorts, where first aid was being administered to the few who sustained injuries in the evacuation and comfort and support were being given, freely, to all.

All, that is, except for the Secret Service and their high-powered political charges. The President was long gone, hustled into a bulletproof limousine and on the road as soon as Eagle detail could get him out of there. The other senators, though, unable to get to their limousines in the commotion of evacuation, stumbled almost blindly down Central Park South toward Columbus Circle...as shocked as the rest of the those who had come to the Plaza expecting an evening of luxury and found themselves lucky to escape with their lives.

Two men, though, didn't consider themselves lucky to be alive.

After all, dead men can't die twice.

They hadn't come to the Plaza to dine, dance and enjoy themselves among the nation's elite. They went to the Plaza to watch the nation's elite die, and from the ashes, rise up to rule over the planet's greatest military power...and, in short order, the planet.

So..."how the *hell* did *everyone* get out of there alive?"

Senator William Bracken turned to quiet his raging 'mentor'. "Brother," he spat out to the Vice President in an angry whisper, "please! You would do well to keep your voice down, especially since we are surrounded by men who are carrying *weapons*."

The Vice President was in no mood to be quieted...but he did see his brother's logic. "Our plan should *never* have failed!" Russell moved closer to his brother, closing the ears of the agents around them so their conversation could not be heard. "Even if someone found the bomb, they could not have defused it. The building should have fallen down around us. So the delay..."

"Was the work of a Mage," Bracken countered simply. "The power was all around that room, brother. Did you not feel it?"

"Of course I felt it!" Russell spat out quietly. "This was supposed to be a world without magic, brother! How did this get past the scout?"

"I don't know," said Bracken. "But I see no reason why this should interfere with our plans."

Russell's eyes widened in disbelief. "Our *plans*?! Our plans were to take over this world with an army of the greatest human warriors as our loyal servants! Instead, we..."

"We would let our plans be thwarted by the actions of *one* lone Mage?" asked Bracken.

Russell shook his head, blinking back his confusion. "One Mage, brother?"

"It has to be. You were there, brother. If magic were common in this world, then those humans would have gone through that portal without giving it a second thought. And a group of more powerful mages would have been able to find and disarm our weapon before it exploded. No, we are only dealing with *one* rogue Mage here." Bracken then smiled as the memories of his body finally worked to his advantage. "And I think I know who this Mage is."

"You do?" asked Russell, stunned. "Who is it?"

"His name is Richard Castle," Bracken replied. "He is the soul mate of Kate Beckett."

"Your body's enemy? The one we sent the assassins after?"

Bracken nodded. "Does it not make sense, brother?"

"It does," agreed Russell. "The only reason she could possibly continue to live is because she falls under a Mage's protection..."

"And can *one* rogue Mage, in a world without magic, who can't even keep a stone building standing...can he *possibly* stand up against the combined forces of Xibalba?"

Russell smiled slyly, suitably chastised. "Of course not, brother."

"So tomorrow will go on as we had planned?"

Russell nodded. "Tomorrow the gate between our worlds will open, and once we rule this land, it will not be long before all of Earth falls at our feet and all of humanity will live their lives only for our pleasure."

"As it should have been all along," said Bracken. "And if we have to lose a few more humans than we expected along the way, what's the harm, really?"

"It's not like they won't simply make more..." agreed Russell.

* * *

A lone figure moved quietly through the darkness of Central Park. When her friend had vanished from her presence in the blink of an eye, she had not needed centuries of experience to tell her that something had gone desperately wrong. She moved with the speed of her kind to the place where she knew everyone had gone, hoping to help prevent the impending disaster any way that she could. But when she saw that the worst had already taken place, she knew that there was one thing that she could still do.

She could follow the evil ones behind the tragedy and make them pay.

But, when she followed her prey, hoping to lure them away from their heavily armed security entourage, she quickly became overwhelmed by the news she had overheard from them: first, that her beloved friends were still alive, second, that *no one* passed away in the tragedy she had been too late to prevent...

And third: that another, even greater tragedy was going to occur if she didn't find her friends, and quickly. Running away from Columbus Circle, she tapped her Bluetooth earpiece and speed dialed the one number that she knew by heart and the only one that she knew could help her. "I must speak to Phoenix *immediately*."

* * *

"Okay, Lanie's on her way." Esposito cast a worried, over-protective glance over at his best friends for the what had to have been the tenth time since the collapse of the hotel. "Are we *sure* they're okay?"

"*Yes*," Beckett replied robotically, tired of having to answer the question for at least the fifth time. "The paramedic checked both of them out as best he could, and he said that physically, they were both fine, just tired."

Esposito was annoyingly unconvinced. "And you can still..."

Beckett nodded. "*Yes*," she insisted quietly, "he's still in there."

Esposito took a sip from the water bottle that the paramedic had handed him. "I just wish..."

Beckett squeezed her friend's hand in what she hoped was a gesture of reassurance. "I know. And if we didn't have this whole bond thing going on I'd be just as worried."

Esposito squeezed his friend's hand in return when Ryan woke up with a groan. He drew in a deep breath...and coughed as he inhaled large quantities of dust. "Everyone ok?" Ryan asked with a groan after he caught his breath.

"Yeah," Beckett said with a smile. "Everyone's ok. Only minor injuries that I've heard of."

"Even...Castle?"

Esposito tilted his head toward their unconscious friend. "You might have to tell us."

Ryan reached out, connecting to Castle's mind and quickly taking stock of his friend's mental and emotional state. A small smile grew on Ryan's face as he considered what he found. "He's *fine*. His energy's long gone, but that's easily fixed."

"How long will that take?" asked Gina, kneeling down to take a supportive position by her ex-husband's side.

Beckett kneeled down by Castle's other side, pushing a lock of hair away from his peaceful face. "He'll be awake in a minute or so," she told the other woman, "and he'll be a hundred percent in a couple of hours."

"Good," Fallon announced to the group. "I hate to say this, but we're going to need him more than ever. We're going to need all of you more than ever."

The three detectives and their friends looked up at Fallon, who was approaching them as he hung up his cell phone. "What's happened?" asked Stephanie, reading Fallon's grim emotional state, but not quite able to get a read on his thoughts.

Ryan, however, was able to read Fallon's thoughts perfectly. His face fell as he understood what was happening before the rest of the group got the news. "Oh my God..." he exclaimed.

Fallon nodded his agreement before bringing everyone else up to speed. "I've just gotten off the phone with Angel. She overheard a conversation between Russell and Bracken. They...they're going forward with their plans."

"Some time tomorrow they're going to open a gateway to hell," said Ryan, picking up on Fallon's train of thought. "Then their armies will take over Earth and enslave all of humanity."

"Oh, is *that* all..." Everyone's attention flipped as Castle regained consciousness. He strained to push his weary body to a sitting position until the women to his right and left found the right way to help him. Once he was more comfortable, though, the wizard's attention turned back to the first thing he heard when he woke up. "Do we know where?"

Fallon shook his head. "No, they didn't say."

It was then that Castle's ears adjusted to the lack of normal New York City background noise around him. "Where *are* we?"

Beckett looked to her friends, worried that her beloved might be more injured than she thought. "We're in Grand Army Plaza."

"*Still*?!" A lump started to grow in Castle's throat as panic rose in his heart. "Did...did we get everyone out?"

Beckett smiled warmly, not surprised that that would be the first thing on her boyfriend's mind. "No one seems to want to confirm it because of the size of that hole over there," she said, tilting her head toward where the Plaza once stood, "but the current belief is only minor injuries from a few people who fell coming off the bus."

Castle rubbed the muscles on the back of his neck that had grown sore from the odd angle he had collapsed into. "And no one wants to admit that..."

Beckett then pointed to the metal that her boyfriend was leaning against. "Because it would mean admitting there was an exit from the hotel in the side of *this* bus."

His strength rapidly returning...a fact that he could only assume could be credited to a link with Ryan...Castle forced his mind to focus on the challenge at hand. "Have you told the Professor about what Katya heard yet?"

Fallon shook his head...and Gina raised an eyebrow in surprise. "The Professor's working on this?" she asked. Her next comment was so under her breath that only Beckett and Ryan understood it clearly. "Why didn't he tell me..." Gina quickly clarified, though, when she realized that she was in the company of people who could catch on to her last comment. "I'm on his research team."

While Beckett seemed to buy Gina's clarification at face value...the enigmatic smile on Ryan's face told Gina that the mind reader had an entirely different view of the situation. She decided to change the subject by focusing on the group's top priority. "We need to get this information to him right away, then, don't we?"

Instantly the group found themselves in the middle of the training center space. Noting their surroundings, Esposito was the first to speak as Fallon took off to go find Jim Beckett. "Uh, bro," said Esposito, "Lanie's on her way to Grand Army Plaza to work on you and Ryan..."

The healer arrived a split second later. Putting her hand down as she recognized where she now was and who was around her, she grumbled, "well I guess it's a good thing I couldn't get a seat..." Lanie's mind immediately kicked into work mode as the group split up to get back to work. "Hold it right there, Castle! You're not moving until I've gotten a chance to take a look at you. And neither are you, Ryan..."

As Castle and Ryan settled into their spaces on the floor, Ryan couldn't resist taking one last parting shot at his friend's departing ex-wife. "So...you and the Professor...?"

Gina's enigmatic smile stunned Castle almost as much as Ryan's question had. Gina, though, simply called back to the detective, "I don't want to talk about it!"

* * *

**_Just want to give a quick thank you to all who responded to my desperate need for a pep talk at the end of the last chapter. Thank you all for reminding me why I've been so very, very inspired since this series began. :-) And for those of you who didn't leave a comment...just know that I'm horribly insecure and I'm always looking for someone to say how much they like my writing...just sayin' ;-)_**


	21. Chapter 21

Mark Fallon was staring at the map of New York City like it held the answers to the greatest secrets of the universe...until his exhausted eyes decided they needed yet another moment to rest. Squinting, he pinched the corners of his eyes against the bridge of his nose...

Until a wave of energy covered him, absorbing into his body from the top of his head and cascading down until it washed out through the soles of his feet and the tips of his toes. When Fallon opened his eyes, it felt like he was waking up from the greatest night's sleep he'd ever had. He noticed the gentle touch of a hand covering his own, and he followed that hand to discover the Yīzhì sitting on the edge of the conference room table next to him. "Thank you," he greeted her, quietly blushing. "That was..."

"You're welcome," Lanie replied with a smile. "We need you at your best, too, you know."

Fallon decided to let the matter rest, choosing instead to focus on the men he had sworn to serve. "How are they?"

"Ryan's fine," Lanie replied, deliberately choosing to ignore Fallon's pseudonym rule. "When he pumps energy into one of us it's not his own energy that he's using. He's more of a...conduit, I guess you could say. Wasn't that big a deal for him, really."

"And Castle?"

Lanie hesitated before speaking. "He'll be fine."

Fallon wasn't about to let her get away with that lack of information...not with so much at stake. "*Will* be fine? Lanie..."

"Physically," Lanie countered, cutting him off. "I've done everything I can for him. He's 100 percent as far as I'm concerned. Ryan's working on getting his energy reserves back up so his magic is where we'll need it to be later."

"What *happened* back there? Castle was able to rebuild half of Manhattan with a single incantation. Why did he have to pull that whole Atlas routine..."

"I was being attacked."

Fallon turned his attention to Castle as the rest of the Guardians entered the conference room. The answer that the wizard gave him was most definitely *not* the answer he had been expecting to hear. "Attacked? By what?"

"The bomb," replied Castle. "Whatever magic was protecting it turned on me after the device exploded. I had to fight it with everything I had just to keep the building standing long enough to evacuate."

"Do you know what kind of magic it was?" asked Fallon, trying to avoid the sinking feeling that they were dealing with yet another level of evil on top of their current problems. "Or who or what might have created it?"

Castle shook his head. "If I had to hazard a guess I would assume Russell and Bracken...but that's just a guess."

"Why is it a guess?" asked Fallon.

"They passed by me as they were coming into the party. I felt...an energy coming from them. The same energy I spent most of the night fighting."

"That's enough for me," said Esposito. "I think we have to assume that Russell and Bracken are full wizards in their own right...at least."

Fallon turned his attention back to the map he had been studying when the Guardians joined him. "So we know they have the power to open the portal," he declared. "We just have to figure out when and where."

"And how to stop it," added Beckett. Fallon nodded.

Esposito joined Fallon in front of the map. "I have no idea about the when," he said, "or how to stop whatever's coming. But I think I can help us narrow down locations. May I?" As Fallon stepped aside, Esposito picked up the marker for the dry erase board he found nearby. "Now, we know that these guys want to make a statement, or they wouldn't have made an attempt on the President first. You don't make nearly as much of a statement by taking over Bed-Stuy to start your war."

"So you think we should focus on Manhattan?" asked Castle. "What about Flushing Meadows? Big wide spaces, more than enough room to bring an army into the city, and it's famous enough to make a statement."

"Finally expanded your world outside of Manhattan, Castle?" Beckett teased.

Castle smirked in response. After crossing out Brooklyn, Staten Island and the Bronx, Esposito studied the Flushing Meadows location on the map, carefully considering his idea.

Ryan's eyes soon widened, though, as he realized the flaw in Castle's theory. "No," he countered, "I think Javi's right. I think the rift will open in Manhattan. And I think I know where."

With all eyes on him, Ryan went up to the map and took the offered marker from his partner. "I once got stuck in this Red Cross class on earthquake preparedness..."

Castle's eyes widened in surprise. "Earthquake preparedness? This isn't California..."

"That's what I thought, too, at the time," Ryan agreed as his presentation started to pick up steam. "Until I saw how many fault lines run underneath Manhattan. Now the most active fault line runs under 125th Street. But there's a secondary fault line..." He then drew a line through a different section of Manhattan, revealing the crux of his theory. "Right there. And look what it intersects."

Esposito and Fallon's eyes widened in amazement as Ryan's, Castle's and Esposito's theories collided in one very famous New York location. "The Great Lawn..." exclaimed Esposito.

Ryan nodded. "If I needed to rip open the Earth to allow an army to come through, I'd find some place where there wasn't quite as much earth to get through. And *this* is where I'd go."

"Makes sense," agreed Esposito. "Less debris to fall into the rift and more space to bring beings through. And attackers can move out in all directions."

"So we have a most likely where," declared Fallon. "But do we have any idea what we'll be facing? Or how to stop it?"

"I think we've found something that can help."

Everyone's attention turned to the couple standing in the conference room doorway. "Dad?" asked Beckett. "What have you got?"

"We found out what the armies of Xibalba consist of," Jim announced. "According to the legends we've found, we're most likely looking at ghosts, were-animals..."

"Werewolves?" asked Castle. "So if tomorrow's not a full moon..."

Gina cut off her ex-husband. "Not werewolves. Were-animals."

"There's a difference?" asked Ryan.

Gina nodded. "Were-animals, according to almost every legend we found, are far more powerful than the traditional werewolf legends. They can shift on demand and can be *any* animal...including ones that can be bigger and much nastier than a wolf."

"Like what?" asked Castle.

Gina turned to look her ex straight in the eye. "Dragons, or half-human, half-dragons, would *not* surprise me, if the legends I found are any indication." The Guardians almost collectively flinched; none of them were interested in the idea of facing dragons ever again.

"All in all, I'm expecting something along the lines of a cross between a stampede of jaguars and the last battle of The Lord of the Rings trilogy," said Jim. "They're going to be fast and they're going to be seriously vicious."

"Speaking of which," asked Castle, "did those legends you found say how we're supposed to stop this? Is there any way to keep this rift from opening in the first place?"

Gina shuffled through a file of papers she brought into the room with her. "Honestly? With the Death Gods currently walking the Earth, there's probably no way to stop the rift from opening. At noon today."

"I definitely can't do it on my own," agreed Castle.

"And as for defeating the Gods and their army..." Gina looked up at Jim, as if trying to figure out who was going to deliver the bad news.

Jim, finally, decided to take the bullet for his researchers. "Unless you guys happen to know how to get a hold of the Mayan Hero Twins..."

The Guardians' intensity level skyrocketed with Jim's last words. "Did you just say the Mayan Hero Twins?" asked Esposito.

Jim and Gina looked to each other, confused by the Guardians' excitement. "Yeah..." said Jim.

Beckett smiled at the first piece of good news they had heard since the hotel collapsed. "We have multiple witnesses who have tried to peg Ryan and Esposito as the Mayan Hero Twins."

"Really?" asked Gina. Jim and Gina's attitudes perked up at the Guardians' admission. "Okay, which one's Hunahpu and which one's Xbalanque?"

"They keep calling me Hunaphu," Esposito declared, tilting his head in a gesture of self-identification.

"Then I guess that would make me Xbalanque," said Ryan.

Gina blew off Ryan's lack of confidence. "According to the legend, the only ones who could defeat the Death Gods were the Mayan Hero Twins. That's why the creator god Itzamna made them the sun and the moon. And now that the Death Gods are back for round two, there's a new prophecy about the Hero Twins coming back to defeat the Death Gods a second time."

"How?" asked Esposito.

"According to this prophecy, Xbalanque is supposed to be some sort of general, coordinating an army of beasts to fight their army of beasts and a trio of super-powerful Mages to close the rift once it's opened."

Ryan sat back in stunned disbelief. "Me? A general?"

"It kinda makes sense," said Castle. When Ryan turned to him for answers Castle explained, "you're the only one who can get into everyone's heads at the same time. With that ability to communicate, you should be able to implement battlefield strategy like no one else..."

Gina stopped her ex's train of thought. "Uh...maybe not like anyone else. The prophecy says that Hunaphu is the one who's supposed to lead the army of beasts into the field of battle."

Esposito's eyes widened as he swallowed hard. "Me? Lead the army into battle?"

"And we still don't know what this army of beasts is that the prophecy is talking about," said Fallon.

The Guardians looked to each other and smiled. Esposito, in particular, had to keep himself from bursting into laughter. "Apparently you need to take a nap, Fallon. Are you so tired that you forgot your own Network's history?"

It was at that point that Fallon connected the past with the present. "You mean that tiger wasn't a metaphor?"

"What tiger?" asked Gina.

Esposito leaned his chair back, tilted his head toward the door, put two fingers to his lips, and whistled. "Yo!" he called out, "Raja!"

Jim and Gina stared slack-jawed as a Bengal tiger casually trotted into the room and knelt before Esposito. _How may I serve you, my lords?_

"Th-that's...that's a *tiger*," said Gina.

The Guardians turned to each other in confusion. "You can *see* him?" asked Ryan.

When Gina nodded, the tiger spirit answered their unspoken question. _The barriers between our realms are breaking down. When the rift opens..._

"When the rift opens we'll have to fight the ghosts as well as the beasts," said Ryan.

Gina's eyes went wide. "How do you know that?"

Ryan looked to Gina, then to the tiger spirit in confusion. "You can see him, but you can't hear him?" When Gina nodded, Ryan accepted the information and went back to the problem at hand. "So when the barrier comes down, can we fight the ghosts like we can humans?"

"You can't...but we can."

Five men, dressed in the robes of Buddhist monks, suddenly appeared in the room. While there wasn't a single Guardian in the room who didn't know their new arrivals, the others were considerably more nervous. Fallon, in particular, seemed to be reaching for his missing service weapon before Beckett was able to calm down their friends. "It's all right, Fallon," Beckett reassured the three civilians in the room. "We know who they are."

"Okay," said Fallon. He lowered his hands, taking his friends at their word. "Who are they?"

"I'm sure you know that we're not the first Guardians," said Beckett. "Our abilities are...inherited, so to speak." The five Guardians stood up, each facing their counterpart as Beckett finished her explanation. "These are the men that we inherited our abilities from." As she bowed deeply to Wangchuk, the other Guardians followed her lead. "What are you doing here, honored ones?"

Wangchuk got down to business right away. "These men do not just threaten your world. They threaten *all* worlds. We are here to help."

"You can go after the ghosts?" Esposito asked his counterpart.

Ngawang nodded. "We have our own army ready to fight. They will be there when you need them."

"Now all we need is our own army," said Ryan.

"Leave that to me," Fallon volunteered. He punched a few commands into his phone. "Yeah, Stephanie? After all that excitement tonight, you were able to go to *sleep*?! Never mind...listen, I need you to start the phone trees. Yes, the overnight trees. Army tree needs to be at the Great Lawn no later than 11am this morning. And the safe house tree needs to be ready to go starting at noon tomorrow. Yeah, it's that bad. Okay...thanks, Stephanie. Yeah, I know, I'll order another five pounds. If the world doesn't end you'll have it by Thursday. Thanks again. G'night."

"What was that?" asked Beckett.

It was Fallon's turn to flash a knowing smile. "When I told you I'd get you anything you needed, I meant it. The army tree volunteered to be on call whenever you needed a 'vigilante squad'...or at least, that's what they told me. You saw one of their classes the day I introduced you to the Network."

Ryan wasn't sure, but he was sorely tempted to believe that the tiger spirit was smiling. "And the safe house tree?"

Fallon's smile faded instantly. "Sandy taught us a lot about taking care of our people," he told the group. "After that we set up a network of safe houses. Their mission is to take care of as many people in their neighborhood as they can in case of emergency."

"You *are* prepared," Castle complimented Fallon, suitably impressed.

Fallon only shrugged in response. "These people are my family."

Seizing upon the opportunity to get every big of assistance he could find, Castle then asked his counterpart, "so will you be able to help me close the rift?"

Jamyang nodded. "However, we cannot do this alone."

"We can't?" asked Castle, confused.

Gina nodded. "I was going to mention that before your...support team arrived. The prophecy talked about having a wizard attack the rift from each of the four winds."

Castle's eyes widened as his face paled. "We need *four* wizards?!" When Gina nodded, Castle spat out the question that was at the very front of his mind. "So who are the other two?"

"Maybe Ryan's one of the wizards?" suggested Fallon. "Maybe that's why he has to hang behind?"

Jamyang and Castle could only shrug in response. "I learned long ago that the universe will provide when we need it the most," said Jamyang.

While Castle had to resist the urge to roll his eyes in front of his elder, Gina had one more point to make. "There's something else. There was an illustration that came along with this prophecy. It was of the beasts that made up the army of the prophecy. Now, it was called the army of beasts because the Mayans only had a name for one of the animals in question."

Castle broke into a wide grin when Gina handed him the replica of the illustration. "I'm guessing the only one of the animals they could name was a jaguar?"

"Yeah," said Gina, "how'd you know?"

The smiles began to spread among Castle's friends as he passed around the illustration. "I have a feeling I'm going to have to make a special pickup for a couple of members of our army."

"They're three hours behind us," Ryan told Castle as he returned the illustration to the wizard. "You might not even have to wake them up..."

* * *

**_Yep. Two chapters in one day. Such is a writing binge for you. Thank you to everyone who has been so sweet and generous in writing lots of comments to help keep me going. They really do help! _**


	22. Chapter 22

_**A/N: Yep, the writing binge continues. A couple of things:**_

_**First, this chapter is dedicated to phnxgrl. She has been one of my most loyal and dedicated fans since I started writing fan fiction again...even going so far as to be the only one to leave comments on stories the *no one else* has commented on (and should probably have never seen the light of day). So when she fervently argued for two of her favorite characters to come back for the finale, I decided I owed her at least that much. Thank you, and thank you again. This one's for you.**_

_**Second, the returning characters will make much more sense if you've read the in-series fic "On the Job Training" and will make even more sense if you read my Sentinel fic "Blinded by the Light" (especially the last two chapters). I've tried to write this chapter so you won't have to read the second story, but if you get confused, I promise it will help.**_

_**Anyway, on with the show!**_

* * *

Even the sky was on fire.

The panther and the wolf ran through the concrete corridors in a panic, desperate to get to the ones who they knew could help them. The *only* ones that they knew who could help them.

Finally, they found it. It should have been an oasis of green in the concrete jungle. Now, though...it was a wall of fire in a world on fire. The panther stopped, unwilling to move further. The normally shy wolf, however, took off at a sprint toward the flames. Bound by blood as they were, the panther caught up just as the flames started to bow in submission to his brother.

There was no time to be amazed by the sight. The need was too great. The panther and the wolf picked up their speed, sprinting through the jungle of fire until they found what they were looking for.

They were too late.

The ground in front of them, as far as the eye could see, was covered in animal carcasses. While some beasts were horrors beyond imagining, the vast majority of the dead were tigers. Tigers and their cubs of every imaginable shape and size were collapsed on the ground...

And one of them was not dead. Yet. The dying tiger swiped a paw into the air to get the attention of the living, and the panther and the wolf padded over to the last living beast. The tiger was splayed out across the bodies of two men. The only two men the panther and the wolf had seen.

Men that the panther and the wolf recognized instantly.

The tiger's dying thoughts drilled their way into the panther and the wolf and inscribed themselves on their souls. _This does not have to be. Help them..._

* * *

Jim Ellison and Blair Sandburg both shot out of bed at the same time. Noticing his guide's panic immediately, Ellison practically jumped the flight of stairs to his Guide's bedroom. "Sandburg!" he yelled out, pounding on the door.

Sandburg's heart rate spiked again after Ellison's yell, but then came down to the same only slightly *less* racing speed that it had been only moments earlier. "I'm fine, Jim," he called back to his Sentinel. "I...I just had a bad dream, that's all."

"I think we both know you don't *just* have bad dreams anymore, Blair," Ellison countered. "You want to come out here and we'll talk about it?"

Satisfied that Sandburg was, indeed, getting up, Ellison went over to the stove to put on hot water for tea. He turned around just as Sandburg was closing the door to his room behind him. "So what was this bad dream?"

"It was the panther and the wolf take Manhattan again," Sandburg replied, trying to make light of the situation. What Sandburg did *not* expect, though, was the shudder he saw visibly run down the spine of his Sentinel. The Guide continued to describe his dream, but every statement was punctuated as a question, trying to gauge Ellison's reactions to what he was hearing. "The whole place was on fire...?"

Another shudder. "The panther and the wolf ran through midtown to Central Park...?"

Ellison turned the heat off underneath the kettle. As he turned around, the Sentinel did the one thing his Guide was half-hoping he wouldn't do. He picked up the story. "The whole thing was on fire, but the flames bowed down to the wolf as he ran..."

"The Great Lawn was buried in dead tigers," said Sandburg, the shudders now running through *him*.

"And underneath a dying tiger were..."

Both men spoke the names at the same time. "Ryan and Esposito."

"I just had the same dream," declared Ellison. Sandburg was starting to wish for a hot cup of tea anyway, just to have somewhere to put his hands. Ellison frowned as that hot cup of tea instantly appeared and Blair took a sip from it without thinking. "Sandburg..." warned the Sentinel.

Sandburg blew off what he knew was threatening to be the start of a long-standing argument. They had *far* more important things to worry about. "Jim, wait. You and I just had the *same* vision. You know what that means. What that *always* means."

Ellison nodded. "We have to go to New York." He picked up the phone. "Okay, you start packing, I'll get us tickets..."

"Jim..." countered Sandburg, pushing his partner to put the phone down, "if we got on a plane in the next ten minutes, it's a six hour flight to New York. When you add in the time difference that's a day gone. What if that's why we were too late? I could get us..."

The long-standing argument began in earnest. "Not a chance, Sandburg! The last time you moved ten feet it landed you in the hospital for a week..."

"But that was the first time I tried *anything*, Jim! I've learned so much since then..."

The argument was stopped when a third man joined the conversation. One whose appearance brought the two men back to the priority at hand. "Castle!" exclaimed Sandburg. "What are you doing here?"

Castle opened his mouth...then closed it quickly. "I can't really explain, guys, but something big's going down in New York, and we need your help..."

No further explanation was necessary. "Just give us a couple of minutes to get dressed," said Ellison.

* * *

The three men appeared in a warehouse that was abuzz with an unusual amount of activity, considering the obscenely early hour. Sandburg watched the people around him with an anthropologist's fascination.

Ellison, on the other hand, watched the activity around him with a wary defensiveness. _Swap the drywall for concrete, and add some track lighting..._"What is this place?"

"I can assure you guys, this is *not* what you're thinking..."

Ellison and Sandburg both smiled with relief as they heard the voice of the one man who could, truly, counter whatever they were thinking. Both men turned to see the subjects of their vision approaching them, alive and well for the moment. "Ryan! Esposito!" Ellison greeted the two men. "It's good to see you."

As handshakes were given all around, Esposito returned the greeting. "Yeah, it's good to see you guys, too..." His greeting trailed off as his handshake locked on Sandburg's and his eyes widened in surprise, trying to process the memories he was seeing. "Wow...things have changed a lot for you, haven't they, Sandburg?"

Sandburg didn't let the unusual greeting faze him. Ryan, though, looked to his partner to clear up his own confusion. "Really? What's changed?"

"I, uh...I guess you could say I embraced my destiny," said Sandburg.

Sandburg then gave silent permission for Esposito to share his memories with Ryan, whose eyes widened as he realized what those memories meant for them. "Wow," Ryan exclaimed, "we *really* need to get you guys into the briefing..."

Three men looked to each other for support, confused by Ryan and Esposito's sudden shot of confidence. Castle, though, was particularly surprised to find himself feeling so confused. "Guys? What's going on?"

"Castle," Esposito declared with a smile as he tilted his head in Sandburg's direction, "meet your third wizard."

Castle stared at Sandburg in disbelief. "Blair?! Blair's the third wizard?! How?"

"I kinda prefer the term shaman," countered Sandburg as they headed toward the large meeting room for the briefing.

Castle had no interest in arguing over something as minor as semantics. Not when there was a story to be told. "Whatever. What I don't get is that you were *not* a wizard..."

"Shaman," Blair corrected him.

"Whatever. You weren't a *shaman* when we first met you." Castle then stopped Blair, disbelief and anger pressing on his emotions at the thought that crossed his mind. "Or were you?"

Blair sighed, knowing that this conversation was probably long overdue. "I was. I just wasn't willing to admit it. When I finally accepted who I was, I found out that the abilities were part of the job description. Believe me, it was a total surprise at the time."

Castle's anger softened at the admission. He turned to Ryan and Esposito for the advice he was looking for. "Can he do what we need him to do?"

"Hell yeah," Esposito declared with absolute confidence. Ryan simply nodded in agreement.

Ellison watched the exchange between the men around him in frustrated, nervous, angry confusion. "Wait a minute. Exactly *what* do you need him to do for you?"

When Castle realized they had stopped just outside of the briefing room, his answer was simple, but, for Ellison, frustratingly cryptic. "You'll find out soon enough."

The group filed into the meeting room to find almost two dozen men quietly chatting, waiting for the meeting to start. While Ellison and Sandburg entered the room hesitantly, the three Guardians had no such apprehension. They walked straight to the front of the room, shaking each man's hand and joining in the conversations.

As Ellison and Sandburg took in the confusing scene in front of them, a voice they did not recognize came up to them from behind. "Ellison and Sandburg, I presume?" The two men turned around to find a grim, dark haired man they didn't know approaching them. "Name's Mark Fallon. Thank you for coming."

"Are you a friend of..." asked Sandburg.

Fallon cut off the question with a shrug. "More of an ally, I suppose. Has anyone explained the situation to you yet?" When Ellison and Sandburg shook their heads, Fallon blew off their confusion. "All right, well, I'm assuming that since they asked for you to come specifically, you'll be able to catch on quickly. But if you have any questions, don't be afraid to speak up, all right?"

When Ellison and Sandburg grimly nodded. Fallon left them to head to the front of the room and begin the briefing. "All right, everyone, please take your seats," he announced to the room. "Gentlemen, thank you for coming in at such an early hour. Honored ones, these are our squad commanders. Although since most of them come from NPs, it seems like most everyone knows each other?" As most of the heads around the room nodded, Fallon continued. "All right then. Gentlemen, I'll keep this as brief as possible. At noon today we believe there's going to be an earthquake in Manhattan. This quake will open up a rift in the Great Lawn through which an army is going to come through and try to destroy the city."

"An army of what?" one of the men asked, seemingly unfazed by Fallon's announcement.

"Were-animals," Fallon replied. "Half-human, half-animal shapeshifters. Now since the research team couldn't reach a conclusive decision on whether bullets will work effectively, have everyone bring swords if they've got 'em."

Ryan whispered to Ellison and Sandburg, "guns don't always work on the supernatural. But cutting off heads works on almost anything."

While Ellison was tempted to stare at everyone in disbelief, the other men around the room simply nodded as they took cursory notes. "Is it going to just be a ground force," another man asked, "or are we going to have to worry about fliers as well?"

"You're going to have your hands full with the ground force," replied Fallon. "But the Lièrén is going to lead a sniper squad to take out any fliers if we have them. Mr. Ellison, she's requested to have you on her team if you can join her."

"Only when you've told me what it is that you want Sandburg to do for you," Ellison growled.

Fallon resisted the urge to sigh, having been warned about how protective the two men were likely to be of each other. Still..."To be honest, Mr. Ellison, I don't have that information. Sìfāng?"

Castle made sure his request was simple, straightforward and honest. "I'd like Blair to be on my team to close the rift."

Ellison's eyes widened in shock. "Close the rift? You want Sandburg to close the rift?"

"He won't be alone," insisted Castle. "There will be four of us."

"Jim," Sandburg insisted quietly, "you know I have to do this."

Ellison took in the steely determination in his Guide's gaze, then reluctantly nodded. As much as he felt an instinctive need to protect his Guide, Ellison also knew that they both had roles to play, and if he stopped his Guide from playing his destined part, then the vision they had both experienced would only be more likely to happen. "All right," Ellison relented, turning his attention back to Fallon. "Tell the Lièrén I'll be joining her team."

"Thank you," said Fallon, grateful to not have to get into an argument in front of the men. Men he spoke to as he wrapped up the meeting. "Gentlemen, I'm not going to mince words with you here. This army is the reason the Code Red was called. And while I've heard all the legends about how the Guardians and the tiger spirit protected many of you during the battle with the zombies, I can't make those kinds of promises today. I hope to God everyone can walk away from Central Park alive. But there's no way I can promise that. What I can promise you, though, is that if this army makes it out of Central Park then no one is safe. Not our friends, not our families...not anyone. If we don't win today our world as we know it will be gone for good. This is what we're fighting for, gentlemen. When you signed up for this army you did it with the knowledge that one day you might be called on to be the ones to save the world. Gentlemen...today you have been called. Good luck and God's speed."

* * *

**_As always, comment, questions...even snide remarks are gratefully appreciated. I mostly like to know that people are still *reading*. It's the main thing that's motivating me to get this whole thing finished..._**


	23. Chapter 23

Sandburg confronted Ellison as soon as the meeting wrapped up. "Jim, *why* are you so against me using the ancient powers?"

"Because the last time you used them you nearly died!" insisted Ellison. "And..."

As Ellison's voice trailed off, Sandburg didn't need Ryan's mind reading ability to know what his Sentinel was thinking. "And when I collapsed that first time you weren't able to protect me. So by stopping me from going down that path in the first place..."

"If that's the only way I can keep you safe," Ellison countered with unapologetic conviction.

"Jim, that's *incredibly* unfair! That's like me saying you should stop using your senses to keep you safe. And we all know how well everything turned out when your dad tried *that*..."

Ellison flinched as if he had been visibly struck. And while Sandburg showed a momentary flash of guilt over his Sentinel's pain, he knew that the pain meant his words were getting through. "Jim...Incacha told you that shamans didn't use the great powers because no shaman was powerful enough to handle them. But what if they weren't *choosing* not to use the great powers? What if they weren't *capable* of using them?" Ellison flinched again, and Blair pushed to drive his point home. "And Jim...what if the fact that I *have* these abilities means I have the ability to *handle* these abilities?"

Sandburg studied the face of his Sentinel, looking for any change in his thinking. And it was right there: in the twitch of his eye, in the slightest change of the clench of his jaw. As much as the Sentinel didn't want to admit it, the Guide knew that Sentinel knew he was right. "I'd lose my mind if I lost you...you know that, right?" Ellison admitted quietly.

Sandburg turned his head so his Sentinel didn't have to look him in the eye. "Yeah, I know."

"So you understand why I had to try to keep you out of danger?"

It was then that Sandburg couldn't resist teasing his partner any longer. "Excuse me? Who saved who from the garbage truck here?"

They were good, finally; all of their issues were resolved and they both knew it. Ellison confirmed it by putting his partner and best friend in a brotherly headlock. "Come on, chief," he declared. "Let's go save the world."

* * *

Esposito slipped out of the warehouse with one goal in mind: to watch the sunrise over the East River...

and pray it wasn't the last time he ever got to do it.

"You okay?"

Esposito didn't need to turn around to know who had joined him. "Hey, chica. Yeah, I'm fine. I just..."

"Needed to see the world hadn't ended yet?"

Esposito nodded. "Even if I'm not sure we're going to be able to say that tomorrow morning."

Lanie's hand slipped into Esposito's, causing him to smile. "We will," she assured him.

Esposito squeezed his fiancée's hand, grateful for the encouragement. "I have to lead them into battle, you know..."

"I know," said Lanie,

"And you're not worried?"

Lanie nudged her fiancé so they could look each other in the eye. "Baby, what do you think?"

Esposito pushed Lanie's hair behind her ears, savoring the embrace as he listened to the bond that joined the two of them together as soul mates. It told him everything he wanted to know. "Oh, Lanie..."

Lanie pulled Esposito's hands down and took them into her own. "Javi, listen...this is so much bigger than either of us. I'm not just worried. I'm terrified. But I am *not* going to stop you from doing what you have to do. All I can do is send you out there and pray you come back to me. I mean..." She let out a bitter chuckle even as she started fighting back tears. "How is that different from any other day?"

Esposito cupped his beloved's face in his hands. "I promise you, Lanie, I will come home to you."

"You better," Lanie insisted, wiping the tears away from her eyes. "Because if you think you're going to get out of marrying me by doing something as simple as dying..."

Esposito let out a chuckle as he took over wiping the tears from his fiancée's eyes. "Not going to happen, chica," he replied with a smile. He pulled her into a gentle kiss that spoke of all the hope he had for their future.

As the couple separated from their embrace, Lanie admitted, "this isn't the reason I came out here this morning, babe."

"It isn't?"

Lanie shook her head. "Someone else wants to see you."

Esposito frowned, wondering who would feel they needed to approach Lanie to butter him up before approaching him. Out of the corner of his eye, though, he soon discovered who was waiting to speak to him. "Well, well, well, 'Monster' Malone," Esposito teased, "*you* thought you needed to go through my woman to talk to me?"

"What can I say, man," Joey Malone shot back in jest, "I had to confirm that this actually *was* your woman. I mean come on, has she *seen* your place?"

"Yes she's seen my place," Esposito teasingly spat back.

Joey didn't miss a beat. "Oh really? Then did you hire some gay guy to find you decent furniture or did you just blindfold her 'til she got to the bedroom?"

Lanie allowed herself a few moments of pure enjoyment as she watched her fiancé roughhouse with the formerly troubled teen. All too quickly though, she knew that she needed to give the two men the space to talk. "I'll see you boys inside," she told them before turning around toward the warehouse door.

When the door closed behind Lanie, Esposito let the younger man come up for air. "So what's up, man? Why'd you need to come talk to me?"

The younger man suddenly found himself at a loss for words. "I...I want to roll with you this morning. To Central Park."

Esposito was starting to get a read on what Joey was coming to him for. "You? You want to come fight with me?"

"I'm goin' either way," Joey insisted. "But after what you told me when we first met...if this is it and I'm gonna bite it today, I wanna go next to the best man I know."

While Esposito was touched by the deep level of respect the younger man seemed to be showing him, he still wanted to feel out exactly what was going through the younger man's mind. "Can you fight? Not just street, I mean *really* fight."

Joey nodded. "Been in Crusher's classes since day one and Angel's classes since she showed up. Even gotten a couple of shots on her, and you have no idea how hard *that* is to pull off..."

Esposito let out a small chuckle at Joey's last statement...then realized exactly what his first statement implied. "Hold up, you've been here since *day one*?"

"Just 'bout," Joey replied. "My social worker saw that little air show you and your partner pulled off the top of the Waldorf. When she figured out who the two of you *were*, she remembered your high opinion of me and hauled my sorry ass in here. Been working my way up the food chain ever since."

"And where's your social worker?" asked Esposito. "She know you're here talking to me?"

"My social worker's runnin' a safe house on the Upper West Side. She knows I'm here, but I'm full army. Who I ride with is my call."

Esposito regarded Joey with a wary eye. "Your *mama* know you're here?"

"Who d'ya think signed my army paperwork?" Esposito saw a flash of anger cross the younger man's face...one that, to Esposito's surprise, Joey quickly brought under control. "Look, you was right about me back then. I needed to get my act together. Being here helped me do that. So even when you didn't know you was lookin' out for me you was lookin' out for me. Time I return the favor."

Esposito studied the younger man carefully, taking note not only of the younger man's vastly increased maturity, but also the absolute sincerity with which he was making his request. Finally, the Guardian offered the younger man his hand to shake. "All right," Esposito told Joey, "you can roll with me."

"You won' regret this, man..." Joey clasped the older man's arm in gratitude, his heart practically leaping out of his chest.

"Yeah," Esposito teased, "I better not..."

* * *

The hours that morning passed by far too quickly. Castle watched people stream into the park around him; both those who were entering the park as part of their typical morning routine and those who knew that that morning was destined to be far from typical. The members of the Network all seemed to find subtle ways to acknowledge him: a bow of the head, a reassuring touch on the shoulder...

A snide comment..."Mr. Castle," Gates greeted the wizard with the snarl he had grown so accustomed to, "looking to get into...trouble this morning?"

"Well, you know me," Castle countered with a smile, "if I don't go looking for trouble..."

"Trouble comes looking for you." The captain quickly found she could no longer keep up the facade of disdain with the man who had long ago earned her respect. "What are you doing down here with us grunts, wizard?" Gates asked with a smile, "I thought you and your men were setting up in the high rises around the park."

"We are," Castle replied. "I guess I just...wanted one more cup of coffee for the road."

Gates glared at the wizard, knowing full well he could conjure up the perfect cup of coffee with a single thought anywhere he went. "Right..."

Castle quickly decided to change the subject. "What are *you* doing down here, Captain?"

"Actually, it's Commander," Gates countered, a small measure of pride creeping through her voice. "For today, at least. The Captains of the NPs each agreed to take a squadron of uniforms and try to hold the perimeter around the park as...as best we can."

Castle noticed the nervous hesitation in the voice of the woman he would forever remember as the "Iron Lady". Scanning the area, he quickly picked out all the subtle signs of the increased presence of semi-plain clothed policemen...and the one thing each of her men was *missing*. "None of your men have swords, do they?"

Gates shook her head. "They're just kids, really, and swords are *not* cheap...Plus seeing so many swords in the area would arouse undue suspicion. Wouldn't want to cause a panic, now would we, Mr. Castle?"

"No," Castle muttered under his breath, "we wouldn't want that..." His mind wandered back to the briefing, where, according to the research team, the captain's 'kids' were likely to be sitting ducks if any of the approaching enemy broke the perimeter. He did have one idea, though, and with the situation as dire as it was..."Captain, can I see your service weapon for a moment, please?"

Confused, Gates pulled the revolver out of her back holster and handed it to Castle. "But I thought you didn't need to use..." Castle shushed the woman, choosing instead to focus his energy on the weapon in front of him. After he mouthed a few choice words of incantation, though, the weapon flashed a with a brilliant blue light...and Gates found herself having trouble coming up with words. "What...what was that?"

"Special bullet idea I had, based on what little the research team could come up with. Silver core, titanium plating, hollow point. For the next 24 hours every weapon in the city will be firing these. It's not much, and I have no idea what kind of good it'll do you..."

"But it's *something*," Gates reassured him, grateful that the wizard would be thinking of her kids even when he had so many other things on his mind.

Castle glanced at his watch and quickly realized the relative lateness of the hour. "I should get going," he declared, "it's almost noon."

Gates nodded, understanding the need to keep their priorities in check. "I'll start to get the perimeter set up. I promise you, none of...whatever they're going to see in there is going to leave the park if we have anything to say about it." Castle nodded, respectful of the woman's determined statement. After taking two steps to separate from the wizard, though, Gates seemed to remember one last thing she wanted to tell him. "Oh, and Mr. Castle?" When she knew she had the wizard's complete attention, Captain Gates gave Castle the best last words she could possibly think of. "Thank you for your service."

Temporarily rendered speechless, Castle disappeared.

* * *

Fallon paced the center of the Great Lawn, burning through nervous energy at a rate that probably qualified as a bad idea. Part of him had always wondered what going to battle would feel like. To sit on the battlefield knowing that the Confederate Army was on the other side. To be on a landing party boat heading to the beaches of Normandy. But this? To be just standing in the middle of New York City, waiting for an earthquake and praying that ground isn't just going to swallow you whole?

This was a feeling he would prefer to never experience again.

Even as the tiger spirit matched the pace of his pacing, Fallon checked his watch for what felt like the fifteenth time. "Ten after twelve," he muttered, "they're running late."

Monster blinked twice and shook his head, not believing what he heard out of the mouth of his leader. "Hold up, the end of the world is running 'late'? And you're *worried* about that?"

Then the grass underneath their feet started to vibrate. And rumble. And *move*. Fallon widened his stance, bending his knees to keep his balance as the ground became more and more unsteady.

"POSITIONS!" Esposito called out to those around him. "GET READY TO MOVE!"

Car alarms started going off. Chunks of mortar started falling off of buildings, landing on parked and passing cars on the street below. The screams of people passing by the park echoed through to the Lawn, making it harder and harder to communicate.

Then the rumble became a roar. The ground beneath their feet buckled and jumped, creating gaps in the terrain that spread...and connected to each other. A voice echoed in the minds of everyone on the lawn, as clearly as if the thoughts were their own. _The cracks are forming the rift, running east-west along the fault line in the middle of the field._

Esposito waved his hands in a motion that encouraged people to back away from the area as quickly as possible. "IT'S THE RIFT!" he yelled. "RUN!"

The warriors backed away from the growing expanse of earth between them, falling over each other as the ground continued to lift and lower in random patterns.

And then the shaking stopped just as quickly as it had begun. Hands tightly gripping his sword, Fallon cautiously approached the rift...only to be stopped in his tracks by an deafening, unearthly roar coming from the ground in front of him. "Hey Esposito," Monster asked nervously, "is that...is that a dragon?"

"Nah, man," said Esposito. He tried to make his voice sound casual...right up to the point where he admitted, "that was nothing. This sounds much worse."

_Great_, thought Fallon, _*just* what I needed to hear. _ His hands now white-knuckling his sword, he took another tentative step toward the rift...

And that was when the edges of his reality suddenly went orange.

Fallon was knocked back like he had been tackled in the chest. But instead of feeling winded, he felt empowered. Like someone had replaced his batteries with a nuclear reactor.

The first of the beasts clawed its way out of the ground. It had the head of a werewolf, the legs of a cheetah, claws like a wolverine and a body twice the height of a grizzly bear.

They could handle it.

The beast was agile, but moved surprisingly slowly. Or he had gotten faster, he couldn't tell which...either way, Fallon climbed up on the beast's back, grabbing it by the scruff of the neck until he got used to the change in balance. He found a rhythm quickly, and squeezed the beast's torso between his legs, using the pressure to leverage himself up to what felt like a kneeling position.

And in one smooth motion, Fallon separated the beast's head from the rest of his body. The world sped up at that point as he rode the still-charging body until it stopped...and held the beast's head high in the air, letting out a yell of celebration that could only be compared to the roar of a tiger.

This? Oh yeah, he could *definitely* get used to this.

* * *

**_Thank you to everyone who has posted comments and little notes of encouragement over this past week. It means more to me than you guys know. So keep 'em coming, okay? _**


	24. Chapter 24

The battle seemed to be going well. At least, it seemed that way from their position on a roof near 81st and Central Park West. Beckett hated their position. She desperately wanted to be in the action, fighting side-by-side with her friends. But when Castle suggested a sniper perch, it seemed like a good idea. They had no idea what they were dealing with, and a squadron that could take out anything from above was a valuable containment asset.

Then she overheard the briefing. Their bullets were useless against their enemy, as far as they knew. So what the hell were they doing there? She could only assume that Castle suggested the sniper idea in order to 'protect' her. Beckett let out a bitter half-chuckle at that. How ironic. She was supposedly the one who was such an expert at running off alone to protect those she loved, and with the end of the world in the balance, what happens? She gets sent off alone...for her protection.

Beckett sighed, controlling her frustration. She wasn't alone, at least. Jim Ellison was practically growling on the other side of the rooftop. Apparently, he was feeling similar emotions to what she was feeling.

It was then that she noticed them. A new type of beast entered the field of battle: legs of a goat, head of a man, with a single large horn protruding from the beast's forehead. Human-size, they didn't look too difficult for the warriors on the ground to take out...but with hundreds of them pouring out of the portal every minute, it was keeping the warriors very well occupied.

But then a knot formed in the pit of Beckett's stomach as she watched one of the horn-headed beasts spread leathery wings and start flapping them, causing it to lift up over the battlefield. "We got a flier!" she cried out, setting up her rifle in its perch.

Ellison watched, warily, as Beckett prepared to fire. "You were at the briefing, Kate," Ellison reminded her quietly, just loud enough so only the two of them could hear. "They said bullets won't work."

"That...thing could go after the wizards, Jim," Beckett countered. Knowing how her emotions could work against her, though, Beckett quickly let go of her worry. "You know I have to try."

Understanding immediately, Ellison backed away, allowing Beckett to set up the shot through her modified scope. Remembering something that Esposito had told her a long time ago about how snipers operated, Beckett took a deep breath, held it, and pulled the trigger.

The beast's head flew back from the impact. It staggered forward from the head's uneven weight distribution, showing that she had pulled off a perfect shot: right between the eyes, just underneath the horn.

And after having sustained no other injuries, the beast fell out of the sky. Dead.

Beckett pulled away from her weapon, her face showing the overflow of the excitement welling up in her heart. "They work!" she exclaimed. "The bullets work!"

"You heard the lady, boys!" Jim yelled out to the rest of the squadron as he settled his own weapon in its perch. "Time to pick off some fish in a barrel!"

The rest of the squadron quickly followed.

* * *

Esposito looked up, smiling as bullets rained down around him. "About time you joined the party, Beckett," he said to himself as he took out a couple of the goat-men near him. He ran across his side of the rift to help Fallon take out a bear...only to find the agent tossing another beast head aside by the time he gets there. "Having fun, Fallon?"

Mark Fallon had never felt so alive in his life. "You boys have been holding out on me," he teased, punching out a nearby trio of goats. "We're going to need to talk about that."

Esposito smiled...until another unearthly roar pierced the air. A chill ran down Esposito's spine as flames shot up from the rift. "Now *that* roar," he muttered, "I remember."

The bony scales of a red dragon's head rose up from the rift, biting at nearby attackers and tossing them away. The protected warriors, apparently, were too tough to eat. The beast pulled itself up out of the hole in the earth with powerful, long-nailed claws, sending warriors scattering as fire shot out of the dragon's mouth in every direction.

Fallon and Esposito stared at the beast as giant red-leather wings unfurled, sending fear through the agent for the first time since killing the bear-beast. "Snipers?" he asked Esposito.

"Too big for the bullets to help," Esposito replied. "We've got to get him while he's on the ground."

Fallon quickly considered what Esposito told him before gathering his courage for the upcoming battle. "Okay..."

"Leave this one to me, gentlemen."

Esposito and Fallon then watched, slack-jawed, as Jordan Shaw sprinted between them, her sword high in the air and primed to attack. She flung her sword at the dragon, and it lodged in the side of the beast's neck as it turned away from her, swatting at warriors who swords were doing less damage, poking at the dragon's extremities. Using the sword as a parallel bar, Shaw then leapt up and landed on the spine of the beast, poking between its scales with her sword as she moved from its tail to just behind its head. Raising the sword over her head, Shaw finally plunged it deep into the dragon's skull...right between the eyes. The dragon's head flung itself about wildly, spouting flames everywhere in its death spasms.

Shaw kept a tight grip on her sword, riding the beast through its death spasms, which caused both caused both Fallon and Esposito to smile as the dragon breathed its last. "Nice work...Dragonslayer," said Fallon.

"I figured that when you're fighting a flamethrower, the safest place to be is behind it," Shaw shrugged as she flipped her sword through the air and caught it by the hilt. Then, a renewed chorus of growls and roars erupted from the rift, easily heard even over the crackling roar of the flames that were passing from treetop to treetop throughout the park.

Soon, though, the only thing that was louder than the sounds from the rift was the pounding of the rain coming down within the confines of the park, extinguishing the flames around them. Esposito looked up at the sky, enjoying the cooling rain as a respite from the searing heat. "Thanks, Castle," he said, almost a prayer as he muttered the words under his breath.

Fallon watched the darkening clouds overhead, joining Esposito in his enjoyment of the rain...until the clouds darkened enough to blot out the sun. "That can't be good," Fallon exclaimed, clearly worried.

_That's not us, guys,_ Ryan announced into the team's mind link. _But I think we can use it to our advantage. Psi squadron, the door's now open. I repeat, the door is now open. Angel, think you and your friends are ready to join the party?_

* * *

_Da, honored ones. It took them long enough..._

Katya turned to address the hundreds of hungry, excited vampires in the sewer tunnels behind her. "It is finally time, my brothers and sisters!" she exclaimed. "The hunt is on!"

The sewer cover flew off the manhole as the vampire jumped into the fray and her brethren followed behind her. One smell consumed Katya's senses as soon as she hit the ground; sparking her thirst like nothing she had ever experienced in her many centuries of living. Tracking the source of that spark, she grabbed the nearest goat-man as it sprinted by, sucking at its vein until the monster was drained dead...then letting out a howling roar of triumph as she telepathically shared her meal with her fellow vampires.

_Brothers and sisters, forget the humans. These beasts are delicious! Drink deeply and savor the feast!_

* * *

Sandburg felt the power of the Earth flowing through him, fascinating him and sparking his imagination even as he forced himself to focus on the desperate need that he was joining the Guardians to stop. But then, in a rush of frustrated enlightenment, the Shaman realized why he was having so much trouble keeping his focus.

The spell wasn't working.

The Shaman stepped back from the edge of the roof of the high-rise where he was stationed. Catching his breath, he pulled his energy out of the spell and projected his thoughts into the mind-link with his fellow wizards. _I hate to say it, but does anyone else feel like you're throwing all your energy into a black hole?_

While Jamyang didn't understand all the details of the expression Sandburg used, he did understand the point the Shaman was making. And, to his disappointment, he found himself agreeing. As he pulled his own energy out of the spell, Jamyang projected, _I believe the Shaman to be correct, honored ones. The spell does not appear to be working. While I feel that we have kept the rift from opening past the boundaries of the park, we are doing nothing to close it._

Castle pulled his energy away from the spell, temporarily shutting it down as he wiped the sweat from his brow. _Okay_, he projected into the mind-link, _so what we're doing's not working. Anyone got any ideas?_

Ryan closed down his connection to the incoming magical energy, panting as he fought to regain his own physical energy. _Gentlemen...I think we have to face an important fact here. I may be many things, but I'm not the fourth wizard._

_Wait a minute,_ Castle countered, feeling the need to defend his friend's presence on his team, _Ryan, I *felt* it. You..._

_Castle_, Ryan cut off his friend before he wasted too much energy on a defense. _Don't get me wrong, I do think you need me here to *power* the spell. But I'm not the fourth wizard. I'm here to help you powered the spell when you have all four wizards._

_Hang on,_ Castle projected into the wizards' link, his mind distracted by the battle below them. _I gotta put out a fire... _Looking out onto the battle below them, he cast a spell to create a rainstorm that would last just long enough to put out the fires he saw burning below them. He then returned his attention to the matter at hand. _All right, if Ryan's not the fourth wizard...then who is?_

* * *

On the north side of the Great Lawn, a squadron found that they were making a greater than average contribution to the success of the battle around them. One member of the squad, in particular, seemed to be the primary reason for their success. This warrior took out three bears without leaving the ground and destroyed wave after wave of goat-beasts completely on their own.

Then the red dragon rose up from the bowels of Xibalba.

The warrior had had nightmares about dragons for a long time: living since childhood with the fear of being burnt alive. Or eaten. Or being swatted away like a housefly. So when they had to face a dragon for the first time, they froze. Panicked.

And didn't even notice the bears barreling down from behind them.

The warrior rolled to the ground and curled up into a fetal position, desperately trying to keep the bears' long claws from slicing into their major organs. And while the warrior's squadron did everything they could to keep the beasts from taking the warrior outright, in the end, the only thing that kept the warrior alive was the constant healing intervention of the tiger spirit.

In that constant intervention...everything changed.

A searing pain exploded in the warrior's brain. But just when the warrior was convinced they were, finally, going to die...the pain vanished. And in its place, power had found a new home. The warrior called on this power to wipe out the enemies that were trying to destroy her...

The beasts vanished.

In their place, the tiger spirit appeared. And he seemed to be...pleased. Maybe even a bit excited. She heard the voice of the spirit echo in her mind. _Well done, Sìfāng-Nǚ'ér! You have finally come into your inheritance. Join the Mùshī. It is time to end this._

Alexis Castle leaped up from her position on the floor into a defensive crouch, finding relief and no small amount of joy in the power now coursing through her veins.

Then, in the blink of an eye, she disappeared.

* * *

**_Okay, I have a feeling the end of this chapter might be a little controversial. So lemme have it! Am I wrong in making Alexis the fourth wizard? Or, after ten stories of being the geeky loyal research assistant...has she, as my husband believes, earned it? Let me know!_**


	25. Chapter 25

Diane McPherson was having trouble believing her ears. The Homeland Security director stared down the television monitors, where network news crews were on an endless loop about the collapse of the Plaza and the mysterious cloud and spontaneous fires that had just appeared over Central Park. So if it wasn't for who was telling her what he was telling her..."Mr. President, you're telling me that the floor started to fall out from under you...and then it just stopped?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying."

"You believe something stopped that floor long enough for you to evacuate?" The President nodded. "And do you believe that this...force is part of what's going on in Central Park right now?"

The President ran his hands through his hair, tilting his head back and letting out a slow, tired breath of air. "I honestly couldn't tell you, *Director*," he said, emphasizing the formal title of the woman he was talking to. "All I know is that when I go over last night's events, I'm convinced that I should be dead. And I'm not. And I have no idea why."

Diane looked around at the number of people who were listening in on their conversation. The number of men in military uniforms. And suits. With earpieces in their ears. _Definitely not a safe place to have a conversation about the unexplainable.._.she thought with a sigh. "Gentlemen," Diane announced to the room, "can I have a moment alone with the President, please?"

As the wary crowd of men looked to their leader, the President carefully studied the face of his Homeland Security director. She seemed to be determined...but also sincere. "Guys," he asked the men who surrounding him, parroting the words of his advisor, "give us a moment. It's okay."

After the last man filed out of the room, Diane crossed the conference room to get within arm's length of the President. She pulled up a chair so that she could talk to the man at the level he was on. "Sir...this is *me* you're talking to here. You know me. You know the experiences I had in Cascade. You know I'll believe anything you have to tell me."

"Anything?" the President asked warily. When Diane nodded again, the President drew in a deep breath, let it out slowly, and let his guard down. "Okay...as we were all sitting down to dinner, there was this man. He...he stood up."

"When everyone else was sitting down?" asked Diane. The President nodded. "Sounds normal enough so far."

"Diane," the President breathed out, his words almost their own sigh of frustration. "You wouldn't say that if you had been there. That man, he...he was *terrified*. Before anyone had any reason to be."

The director fought to catch on to her boss' train of thought. "Do you think he was a psychic or a Sentinel of some kind? Maybe he sensed the bombs before they went off?"

"I've considered those possibilities, based on what you've told me about Cascade," the President replied. "The thing is, that doesn't fit with what happened to this man after the bombs went off."

"What happened?"

"He had a seizure. While standing up. Seemed like the seizure froze him to his spot, actually."

Diane suppressed her surprise quickly. "You're right, that is strange..."

The President's eyes widened as another unusual memory from that night rose to the front of his mind. "His date..."

"What about her?"

"She didn't try to help him. In fact, quite the opposite. She guarded him like a pit bull, ready to pepper spray anyone who got near him..." The President's face then drained of color as his mind pieced together the timing of the events of the previous night. "Wait a minute...that man didn't have that seizure as the bombs were going off."

"No?"

The President shook his head. "He had it when the floor stopped moving."

It quickly became Diane's turn for her face to drain of color. "You think he had something to do with the delay between when the bombs went off and the building collapsed?"

"Christ, Diane, how would I know?" the President exclaimed. "All I'm saying is that the timing of this 'seizure' can't possibly be a coincidence." It was then, out of corner of his eye, that the President saw it. "That's him!" he exclaimed. "That man...they just showed him on the news."

"Thank God for DVRs," muttered Diane. She grabbed the remote and rewound the TV coverage on the screen that the President had been pointing at.

The President stopped her on the right image a moment later. "There. I think that's him. I'm pretty sure that's the man I've been telling you about."

"How sure are you, sir?" asked Diane, studying the image for herself.

"Maybe 90 percent, since everyone's covered in dust."

Diane was tempted to shrug off the image, not being able to tell one way or the other whether that was the man the President was looking for and not recognizing the man in any case. Her eyes quickly widened, though, as she did recognize the other man on the screen...and then her eyes rolled just as quickly with annoyance when she recognized what that probably *meant*. "Would you excuse me, sir?" she asked the President. "It appears I have to make a phone call."

"A phone call?" asked the President in disbelief. "Do you know that man?"

Diane shook her head. "No sir, I don't. But I do know the man next to him. And he owes me some answers..."

* * *

Mark Fallon nearly ran himself off the roof of a 50-story building.

He was charging at a rampaging hell-beast that looked a bit like a lion, except that it had snakes surrounding its head as a 'mane' and talons instead of paws. Fallon was within inches of decapitating said beast...when his surroundings changed *very* suddenly. Momentum carried him to within six inches of the building's edge before he stopped and was able to take stock of the shift in his environment.

It was then that he noticed the tiger spirit. "I suppose you're the reason I'm up here?" asked Fallon between deep gulps of air.

The tiger nodded. _Your role in this battle is far more important than you realize_, _Agent Fallon._

Fallon stared at the tiger in disbelief. "My role?" The tiger nodded. "I was *fulfilling* my role in the battle and doing a damn good job of it! So why did you bring me up here?"

_Your role in this battle is far more important than you realize, Agent Fallon._

Fallon was starting to feel like his energy was returning. "You said that."

_I am aware of that, Agent Fallon._

"You're aware of that," Fallon muttered. He started joining the tiger in his pacing, watching the beast spirit as it crossed the length of the rooftop. "So my role isn't on the ground?"

_No, Agent Fallon._

"It's something up here."

_Yes, Agent Fallon._

"And supposedly no one else can do this?"

_Yes, Agent Fallon._

"So why do I need to be up here?"

_Being near the battle does not help you in your role, Agent Fallon._

"Cryptic," Fallon shook his head in frustration. "Why didn't Esposito warn me that you could be so damn cryptic..."

A small device started vibrating in Fallon's pants pocket. _Your time has come, Agent Fallon._

Fallon ignored the vibrations. "I mean, just once, could you *possibly* lower yourself to giving me a single straight answer..."

_Answer your phone, Agent Fallon._

"A simple, straightforward answer, is that so difficult?"

_Answer your phone._

Fallon stopped, suddenly realizing that the tiger was giving him a direct order. "Wait...what?"

_Answer. Your. Phone, Agent Fallon. *Now.*_

It was only then that Fallon noticed the vibrating of his cell phone in his pants pocket. And when he took the device out of his pocket, a knot immediately formed in the pit of his stomach. The tiger spirit, for all his cryptic crap, was absolutely right. He was the only one who could take this phone call. Hell, he was the only one likely to even *receive* such a phone call. "Good afternoon," Fallon greeted the woman on the other end of the line in as cordial and casual a manner as he could muster. "How are you today, Director?"

The director was in no mood for pleasantries. "Save it, Fallon. What the *hell* are you doing in New York?"

Fallon swallowed hard, not liking the cold, steel-hardened fury in his boss' voice. "I'm taking some personal time..."

"Try again."

"I wanted to see that new Islamic Exhibit at the Met..."

"That's your excuse?"

"There's this new curry house on 23rd Street..."

"Agent. Fallon." Diane cut Fallon off as she put him on speakerphone. "Look, I'm sure you're aware that current events in New York have been all over the news in the last twenty-four hours. Right now the U.S. Government is in the process of trying to decide what to *do* about these ongoing events."

Fallon frowned as he recognized the echo and volume change within the conversation. "Director, do you have me on *speaker*...?"

"Yes I do, Agent Fallon. Now, I'm only saying this because I believe you may have been involved in saving the President's life last night get out."

While the President gawked at Diane in open-mouthed shock, Fallon reacted on the phone with equal astonishment. "Excuse me...?"

"You heard me. Whatever response the military decides on I can promise you that you will not want to be anywhere near it when it happens. I'm ordering you to leave New York and report to DC..."

"I'm afraid I can't do that, Director," Fallon countered. "My people..."

Diane was tempted to stare at the phone in disbelief. "Oh, so you have *people* now, Agent Fallon?"

Fallon paled as he realized his mistake. "The people, Director. Need I remind you h-how many innocent people there are on the island of Manhattan..."

"And need I remind *you* how many innocent people there are in the United States of America, Agent Fallon? Are you familiar with what is currently *happening* in Central Park?"

Fallon swallowed hard. "I am, ma'am."

"Then unless you can give me a good reason to delay bringing in the military..."

Tears starting to form in his eyes, Fallon looked to the skies, as if praying that a salvation to his problems would come pouring down from above. When no salvation came, however, he knew what he had to do. The only thing he could do..._Forgive me, honored ones..._"The third photograph, ma'am."

Diane suddenly found herself on unsteady legs. "You found it," she declared in a voice wobbling with nervous, astonished excitement.

"Them, ma'am," Fallon replied with deep, solemn conviction. "*They* are my people."

The President finally found his voice to break into their conversation. "Agent Fallon, the man who saved my life...is he with you?"

"Yes, sir," said Fallon, his voice almost instinctively perking up at the sound of the country's leader.

"Can you hold for a minute, Agent Fallon?" asked Diane. She then continued her conversation with the President without muting the agent's line. "Sir, I..."

The President cut her off. "Now look here, Diane. Exactly what photos are the two of you talking about?"

"Remember those crazy dragon photos we got from the Canadians a while back? The ones no one could explain?" When the President nodded, Diane declared the conclusion to which she had just arrived. "The last time I sent Fallon to New York I asked him to look into the photos. To find out why the second and third photos were so different. Apparently Fallon's 'people' are that reason."

"And they're also the reason I'm still alive," the President agreed.

"Yes, sir," Fallon chimed in on the other end of the line. "Sir, I believe with all my heart that my people can handle this."

Diane drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly in an attempt to buy herself a moment to consider her options. Finally, she decided that if Fallon were so willing to risk everything to protect these people, then they could be trusted. And if he said they could do what he thinks they can do..."What do you need from us, Agent Fallon?"

"Give us until sunrise tomorrow morning," Fallon replied with decisive speed. "After that...do what ya gotta do."

"You have it," Diane agreed. "Good luck."

As the Homeland Security Director ended her phone call, the President had only one question on his mind. "Diane, how are we going to know if these people have saved Manhattan?"

Diane's memories flipped back and forth from the second to the third photo in repeated succession. "Sir, I can promise you...we'll know."

* * *

**_Okay, at this point I *know* I'm writing faster than you guys can keep up with it. I just wanted to say thank you for not giving me grief about spamming your inboxes. :-). Please don't hesitate to leave comments. I very much want to hear what you think!_**


	26. Chapter 26

As Fallon hung up the phone, the tiger spirit asked him, _I am curious, Agent Fallon. Why did you give your leaders a time to expect the battle to be over?_

"If our enemies aren't contained by sunrise," Fallon replied solemnly, "then we're probably going to need all the help we can get."

An announcement rang through both man and spirit, stopping any potential argument before it could have the chance to begin. _Keep clear of the rift. It's starting to close._

"Get me back down there, spirit," Fallon demanded, practically growling himself. "We've got all the bases covered. It's time to finish this."

* * *

_That's not us, guys,_ Ryan announced into the team's mind link. _But I think we can use it to our advantage. Psi squadron, the door's now open. I repeat, the door is now open. Angel, think you and your friends are ready to join the party?_ He fought back the urge to chuckle at his ex-girlfriend's response. While Katya was many things, the beast always shared a part of her soul. A part that she carefully repressed to be able to live and move in the modern world...but a part that she still carried with her every day, nonetheless. So to see that beast come out and express itself...

He was just glad to not be the one on the receiving end.

_All right, gentlemen_, Ryan projected into the wizards' mind-link, _reinforcements have just arrived, but we're going to need to keep the sun away to keep them in the fight._

_Keep the sun *away*? _Sandburg's astonishment echoed clearly through the mind-link. _But what about the prophecy?_

_That horse has already left the barn_, Castle shrugged as he seeded the clouds to keep them positioned over the battlefield, _so why not let the vampires have a little fun?_

Sandburg swallowed hard, his response showing a rapid fraying of his nerves. _Did you just say *vampires*?_

Jamyang accepted the young shaman's apprehension, assuming it was based on the same fear and ignorance he once had. _Ah. Blair has not yet met our friend Ms. Petrovich?_

_Nope_, replied Ryan. _Any sign of our fourth wizard yet?_

"Kev?"

Ryan just barely heard the shy voice above the increasing roar of the battle underneath him. Still, he turned at the call of his name to find Alexis standing behind him. "Lex?" he asked, "What are you doing here?"

"I'm the fourth wizard, Kevin. I'm here to complete the spell."

Kevin shook his head lightly, trying to process his friend's announcement. "Wait a second, you're the fourth wizard? How?!"

Alexis smiled slyly. "You of all people know how that works, Kev. I'm army, remember?"

It didn't take long for the Guardian to work things out. "The tiger spirit was enough energy to flip you?"

"I, uh...I got ambushed," Alexis admitted. "Repeatedly needing to be *healed* is what flipped me."

Ryan shook his head at the conflicting emotions running through his head. While he was thrilled to see that the spell could finally be completed, the amount of pain his friend had to go through...it hurt *him* just thinking about it. He pulled Alexis into a fierce hug, pouring peace through the embrace to comfort his friend. "I'm sorry you had to go through that, Alexis."

Alexis flinched as the memory of the attack went to the front of her mind, then relaxed a bit as a very familiar wave of positive emotion took the edge off her trauma. Tears were starting to well up in the fledgling wizard's eyes as she pulled away from the embrace. "What's done is done. But thank you."

"You're welcome," said Ryan with a smile. "You ready?"

Alexis nodded, wiping the tears from her eyes. "Patch me in. Let's do this."

Ryan connected the two of them to the wizards' mind-link. _Gentlemen, he announced with a small hint of pride, the fourth wizard has arrived._

_Hi everyone_, Alexis projected shyly into the link.

Sandburg and Castle staggered back a bit, shocked as they were by the voice that identified itself as the fourth wizard. _Alexis_?! Sandburg spat out in amazement. _How the hell..._

Castle caught on immediately. _The predisposition to becoming a Guardian is genetic, Blair. It's kick-started by being exposed to large quantities of magic. _ His attention then turned to his daughter. _You'll tell me how it happened after all this is over?_

_I will_, Alexis replied. _I promise._

_Sìfāng-Nǚér..._Jamyang exclaimed into the mind-link, his astonishment clearly evident. _I believe the expression is...I did not see that coming?_

Alexis laughed lightly into the mind-link in agreement, which seemed to lighten the mood of everyone involved. _So how do we do this?_

_Push the energy through you into the ground at the park_, said Sandburg. _Focus on closing and sealing the rift. _

_That's it_? asked Alexis. _What about securing the closure?_

_I do not understand,_ replied Jamyang.

_Think about it,_ Alexis countered. _When you're trying to repair a severe cut in your arm and you don't have a healer nearby, you have to have stitches, right?_

_Yeah_, Ryan replied.

_Wouldn't it make sense to do the same to the rift? _ asked Alexis. _Two wizards push the riff together, then two wizards work to stitch it closed, one working from each end?_

Jamyang was so far removed from a time where he did not have access to a healer that he couldn't wrap his head around Alexis' theory. _I am sorry, I still do not understand..._

_I do,_ Castle volunteered. _Blair, can you push with Jamyang and Alexis and I will do the sewing?_

_Worth giving it a shot,_ Blair agreed with a shrug.

_Then we should definitely try it_, Ryan agreed, concluding any possible argument. _Gentlemen, whenever you're ready..._The four wizards each drew in deep breaths to regain their focus, then each wizard centered their attention on their respective parts of the spell...

It was like the last tumbler of a lock clicking into place. As the ground started to rumble beneath their feet, Ryan projected an announcement to the army before pouring all of his energy into assisting the spell. _Keep clear of the rift. It's starting to close._

* * *

_Keep clear of the rift. It's starting to close._

Beckett tried to chamber one more round into her rifle, only to find no bullet to chamber. "I'm out!" she declared, tossing her now-useless weapon aside.

"You were the last one," Ellison told her. "We're all out now."

Beckett looked to her men. They all seemed to be itching to get out of their perch, but they also seemed to respect her enough to look to *her* for direction. "You guys all heard the announcement?" All of her men nodded. "Head to the park," she ordered them. "I'll meet you there."

Ellison watched the men sprint out of the room at top speed, chuckling as a couple of the men even let out whoops of excitement. "I wonder how excited they'll feel when they get to the bottom of the stairs..."

It was now Beckett's turn to chuckle. "You have no idea of the powers that you're dealing with here, do you? What you're capable of? C'mon..." She jumped up and ran for the stairwell.

Ellison followed his friend to the top of the stairs, then watched in amazement as Beckett dropped the 20 flights of steps in moments and rolled to a standing position. He called down to Beckett, still in shock. "HOW THE HELL DID YOU JUST DO THAT?!"

"CATS ALWAYS LAND ON THEIR FEET!" Beckett yelled back in response. "ARE YOU COMING?!"

Ellison looked out to the perch where he had spent most of the afternoon, his memory readily calling up exactly how high they were in comparison to the ground. And Beckett just jumped that like it was two feet, not twenty stories...When Ellison turned back toward the stairwell, he was faced with the one thing he wasn't expecting.

The panther. *His* panther. Taking a swan dive off the staircase.

If there was one thing that Jim Ellison had learned during his tenure as a Sentinel, it was that where your spirit guide went, you should follow. Wherever that took you.

Beckett smiled as she watched Ellison drop to the ground floor and roll up into a standing position like he's been doing it for years. "We'll make a believer out of you yet, Ell..." Her smile vanished as she watched Ellison stagger back like he'd been struck. "Jim?"

The unexpected timing of the vision sent Ellison reeling. The content of the vision, though, spurred him to action like nothing else possibly could. "They're going after the wizards," Ellison exclaimed. "We need to get to Blair and Castle."

The pair took off in opposite directions.

* * *

**_I know, short chapter. But I know that several of you seem to want me to stretch this out a little so it doesn't end just quite yet. You guys do *wonders* for my ego, by the way...;-) Anyway, figured you guys wouldn't mind a short chapter tonight. As always, comments highly encouraged!_**


	27. Chapter 27

The brothers had paired off, fighting side-by-side to take out the should-have-been-non-corporeal beings any way they could. _I am impressed, Tsewang, _Wangchuk commented into the mind-link as he killed two nearby ghosts, _you are much better with a sword than I thought you would be._

Tsewang took out a group of ghosts that had surrounded him before responding. _I *was* the caretaker for your share of the Great Blessing at one point, brother. I had to have picked up a trick or two along the way..._

* * *

On the other side of the Great Lawn, Lobsang and Ngawang were reveling in having one last chance to take out as many of their enemies as possible, fighting side-by-side with the members of the army. Lobsang ran his sword through a dozen ghosts in rapid sequence before letting out a triumphant roar of adrenaline-filled victory.

Ngawang was fighting the urge to laugh out loud at his brother. That did nothing, however, to keep the laughter out of the mind-link between them. _You *have* missed this, brother..._

_Not this, specifically..._Lobsang winced, and Ngawang immediately understood how much the extreme violence was starting to weight on his brother's conscience. _Just...being *alive*. Breathing the air. Hearing the noise..._

_Even the noise of a city as big as this? _asked Ngawang.

Lobsang took out a half-dozen more nearby ghosts before answering. _Yes, brother...even *that* noise._

Ngawang head shook with gentle laughter...until the announcement from his brother's successor broke into his thoughts. _Keep clear of the rift. It's starting to close._

Lobsang let out another loud roar of approval as the ground started to shake beneath them. _Did you hear that, brother?! _

Ngawang took out a few more ghosts before replying. _I did, brother. The rest of these ghosts should seriously consider staying in Xibalba..._

* * *

_All right,_ Ryan announced to the wizards, _it looks like the rift has been pushed together. Castles, how's the sewing going?_

_Well, you know, a little nip here, a little tuck there, _Castle joked.

Across town, Alexis rolled her eyes. _We're almost done, Kevin. Maybe ten minutes more?_

_Ten minutes,_ replied Ryan, _got it._

"I underestimated you, Mage. It is a mistake I will not make again."

Castle didn't need to take his focus away from closing the rift to recognize who was speaking to him. "Bracken."

Bracken tsked back at him in response. "Come now, Mage. Let us drop this pretense. We both know that we are now working far above that pathetic human level."

"Then you'll step away from the Mage and fight me on *our* level, Bracken."

Bracken tensed up, backing away from Castle as Beckett held a sword to his throat. "You cannot kill me, *human*," he spat out with an over abundance of arrogance that did nothing to hide the edge of fear in his voice.

Beckett responded by pressing the blade of the sword deeper into Bracken's Adam's apple, drawing blood in the process. "Perhaps not, *death god*," she countered calmly in response. "But this body you have...I am sure you're aware of how much satisfaction I would derive out of killing it?"

_Kate, what are you doing? _Castle asked through their bond-link.

_Stalling him so you can seal the rift_, Beckett shot back in response. _Hurry!_

"I...I am aware of your hatred for the one who once held this body," Bracken replied matter-of-factly.

"Then you know that I would have no problem with separating this head from this body just to see what would happen," Beckett insisted, pulling the sword even tighter against Bracken's neck.

Cold steel pressed against Beckett's temple. "And if you tried, Ms. Beckett...well, I doubt any healer could repair the damage of a point-blank gunshot to the head, now, could they?"

The sharp point of steel then poked into the gunman's back. "And if you do that, Mr. Vice President, then we'll see how long you can last when you're half the man you are right now."

Castle's nerves went off the charts as he heard first Bracken, then Beckett, then Russell being threatened behind him. Beckett sensed her beloved's distraction and knew immediately how dangerous it was. _Castle! Focus! None of this makes any difference if you don't close the rift!_

Taking in a deep breath and letting it out slowly to steel his nerves, Castle looked at the terrible conflict in front of him. _I love you,_ he projected to Beckett, his mind voice betraying his inner conflict through his bond-link.

_I love you too, _said Beckett. _Finish this._

Deliberately, consciously, painfully...Castle closed off all but the thinnest of links to his soulmate and turned his attention to his link with his group of fellow wizards. _Alexis, is everything ready?_

_Yeah_, Alexis replied, _you just need to do the last few stitches, then the push._

_Right_, responded Castle, taking deep breaths to steady his focus. He picked up the energy and wove it through the 'stitches' left by his daughter's work. _It's done,_ Castle declared, _now for the push._

Ryan picked up the ball from there. _All right, the goal is to fuse the stitches over the link so the rift can never be opened again, right? _

_Exactly_, agreed Castle.

_Let's do this, then,_ declared Ryan. He opened up an energy link, wider than any link he had ever used, then sent the energy to the four wizards. Lines of light shot around the park, visible to all who could look up to see them.

And then, with one last great force of will, the four wizards directed that energy back toward the Great Lawn, sealing the rift, once and for all, in a staggering flash of light.

* * *

Castle was not on the roof of the high rise when he awakened. Not was he in the loft, or in the precinct, or on the battlefield of the Great Lawn.

If he was being honest with himself, he really had no clue where he was.

The wizard pushed himself up to a seated position, wincing at every movement of his overtaxed muscles. The room he was in was huge, with Roman columns that had to be at least thirty feet high. And everything in the room was white, and shone with its own ethereal glow..."Am I dead?" he finally asked himself with a groan.

"I hope not," Castle heard a *very* familiar voice behind him, "because it would deprive me of the pleasure of killing you myself..."

"KATE!" Castle shook off every bit of disorientation, scrambling in the direction of his beloved's voice. He embraced her with a fervent passion, flinging open the link between and rejoicing in the feel of everything about her. "You're all right..."

Beckett laughed lightly as she relaxed into the embrace. "I'm *fine*, Castle..." she reassured him. It was only then that her sensitive eyes started to adjust to the light around her, allowing her to take in her surroundings. "Where are we?"

"No idea," Castle shrugged.

"Wow...*you* have no idea? Not even a theory?"

"Yeah, man, guess that means we're *really* screwed..."

Castle and Beckett turned at the sound of the voices of their friends. "You guys all right?" asked Beckett.

Ryan and Esposito both nodded. "I *think* I'm okay...or dead..." Ryan exclaimed.

"We're not dead," Castle countered. "At least I don't think..." He turned to Ryan and Beckett. "Can you guys hear anything that might give us a clue...?"

Beckett and Ryan both reached out with their distinctive abilities. "Can't help you with where we are," said Ryan. "But we're definitely not alone." Beckett nodded in agreement.

"How many?" asked Esposito.

"Six," Ryan replied. "Fallon, Alexis, Blair, Jim, Lanie...and I think Katya's here too. Her thoughts are a little hard for me to read, though, so I can't be sure..."

"No, you're right," said Beckett. "That's the count I get, too."

Castle was still fighting to wrap his head around their situation. While Esposito attended to his fiancée, Castle asked everyone else, "so do any of *you* have any idea where we might be?"

"You are in my home," a deep, booming voice called out from behind them. "I apologize for the disorientation. I don't bring guests up very often..."

"I'm sorry," asked Castle, "and you are?"

A tall, well-built, darkly Hispanic man approached them from the other end of the hall. His voice rang of the voice they had just heard, but with less power underneath it. "Hopefully this form will allow us to better communicate. I am Itzamna."

"Who?" asked Esposito.

This elicited a chuckle from Itzamna. "It has been a while since anyone has spoken my name as anything other than legend. Let's just say that you have been forced to deal with the arrogant behavior of my children, and for that, I must apologize."

"Your children?" asked Beckett.

Two more 'guests' of Itzamna were unceremoniously dumped into the middle of the room. As the two new arrivals rose to standing positions, each man was immediately lifted off the ground and magically bound so that they could not move.

Beckett recognized the new arrivals immediately. "These are your children?"

Itzamna nodded, watching as the rest of his guests woke up and gathered around the scene. His attention then returned to his impetuous children. "To my shame...unfortunately. Hunhau and Uacmitun Ahau, here, decided to take advantage of all of the fear surrounding the misinterpretation of our calendar. They seemed to believe that if so many of your people were expecting the end of your world, that they should deliver on that false promise."

"So you don't approve of their actions?" asked Lanie.

Itzamna glared at the two gods as he responded with cold, quiet fury. "No. I most definitely do not approve of their actions." The god paced around his two immobilized children as he considered his options. "You two decided, on your own, that Xibalba was more important than the Earth and the humans that call it home."

Hunahu spoke from the body of the late Vice President in an attempt to defend his actions. "B-but...but...but those humans have no interest in taking care of the planet you entrusted to them! Or even of each other..."

"A perception that has clearly been proven to be wrong, many, many times over," Itzamna countered, cutting off Hunahu's attempt to defend himself by placing a magical gag over his mouth. He then turned to the other death god. "Would *you* like to try to justify your actions?"

"No, my lord," Uacmitun Ahau replied through the body of the late Senator Bracken.

Itzamna seemed to be slightly placated by the show of humility. "At least one of you seems to have learned something from this experience." The god took a few moments in silence to contemplate the fate of the other gods before him. Finally, he seemed to come to a definitive decision. "Now, to your punishment...since you both believe so much in the supremacy of Xibalba, perhaps you should experience it in the same manner as those you have...tested...in the past. Hunhau and Uacmitun Ahau, I condemn you to repeat the tests and trials of Xibalba, in human form, until the calendar flips to the next piktun."

As the faces of the death gods drained of all color, Castle felt compelled to ask the question every he was sure human in the room was thinking. "Pardon me, sir...but exactly how long is that?"

Itzamna was not offended by the question in the slightest, and responded simply and casually. "Approximately 2,750 of your years...give or take two months."

"My lord," begged Uacmitun Ahau, "please...have mercy..."

The cold fury of Itzamna returned with a vengeance. "I *am* being merciful. My first inclination was to sentence you to the trials of Xibalba for *all* eternity. Now begone from my sight."

The death gods instantly disappeared...along with any trace of Itzamna's anger. "Well...now that that dreadful business is taken care of, let's see to your reward, shall we?"

Every one of Itzamna's guests shook their heads in disbelief. "I'm sorry," said Fallon, "but did you say *reward*?"

It soon became Itzamna's turn to stare at his guests in confusion. "Of course! You were made to suffer because of the insolence of my children. It is only right that you be fairly compensated for your trouble."

"That's very kind of you," said Beckett, "but I'd be perfectly happy if none of your people were ever seen on Earth..."

Itzamna cut Beckett off as the cold fury returned. This time, though, it echoed in a declaration made with rock-hard conviction. "I swear to you, with every ounce of my power, that as long as humans like you walk the Earth, you will not have to deal with my children ever again..." The god's voice trailed off as an idea seemed to spark in his mind. "That sounds like a proper reward to me..." he mused to himself.

"I'm afraid you've lost me..." said Alexis, clearly confused.

"The life span of every human being has been placed in the hands of the gods since the beginning of time," Itzamna explained. "But you...all of you...represent the best of humanity. What humanity should be allowed the opportunity to strive to become. So I want to give them that opportunity."

"Okay, now you've *really* lost me..." said Sandburg.

Itzamna regarded everyone in the room with what looked like an almost fatherly pride. "From this point forward, you will not age, and the number of days in your life will be *completely* within your control. When you decide your time on this Earth is done, you can rest with your ancestors knowing that you have earned the honor and respect of the gods."

Jim stared at the god in wide-eyed disbelief. "Wait a minute...you're offering to make us *immortal*?!"

"If that is what you wish, then yes," replied Itzamna. "The choice is yours..."

Everyone in the room reeled from the shock of the god's offer...with one exception. That one exception stood out like a sore thumb, and Itzamna picked up on it immediately. "You do not seem to be as...challenged by my offer as your friends," said Itzamna.

Katya shook her head. "My Lord, I...do not have the same issues with mortality as my friends do."

"Ah," Itzamna commented with a nod of recognition. "That is because you are a blood demon, is it not?"

"Yes...yes, my Lord."

"I see," said Itzamna. "Well, we can't have that, now, can we?" The god took a brief moment to focus all his attention on the vampire as he modified his offer. "Tell you what, I'll give you a choice. I've often heard that many with your...condition crave a second chance at a human life, so if that is your wish, you shall have it. But I will warn you that will leave you with a normal human's mortality at the hands of the gods."

Katya considered the idea carefully. "What's the second choice?"

"Your comrades will now have the potential to share your immortality," Itzamna replied. "So I can see how regaining your humanity may not be as...attractive an option as it had once been. However, I do believe that the greatest danger to your kind lies with the sun?"

Katya nodded. "Any time in the daylight would cause me grievous injury, potentially even death."

"Then if you wish that...problem...to be eliminated, I would gladly do that for you."

Katya's heart leapt as she considered the possibilities. To be human...to walk in daylight once more...It took her surprisingly little time to make such a potentially life-altering decision. "You are right, my Lord, in that I made peace with what I am a long, long time ago. However, I would love nothing more than to watch the sun rise once again."

"And so you shall, my child," Itzamna declared. Katya stared at the god, waiting for something to happen...a fact the Itzamna noticed after a few minutes of awkward silence. "Is there something else, my child?"

"It's...it's done?" asked Katya. "I can walk in the sunlight now?"

Itzamna nodded. "I have said it," he shrugged, "therefore it is done."

"Okay..." said Katya. "I guess I just thought it would be more complicated than that..."

Itzamna smiled. "You mortals always do." He turned his attention back to the group as a whole. "Heed my warning. Once you have crossed the threshold to the afterlife you will not be allowed to return to the mortal world. But until then..." Itzamna's smile grew wider and just a little mischievous as he concluded his time with his guests.

"How you live your lives, and for how *long*...that is, now, entirely in your hands."

And with Itzamna's words echoing in their ears, the god's hall disappeared in another flash of blinding light.

* * *

The group collapsed in a heap on the ground of Central Park. As everyone got up, the first thing they noticed was the stink of blood, sweat and chaos that surrounded them on the battlefield. "I wouldn't want to be the one to have to clean *this* up," Blair commented as he let out a low whistle.

"Actually..." Castle volunteered, sharing a knowing glance with his fellow Guardians, "a cleanup like this isn't that big a deal, if you'd be willing to give me a hand..."

Sandburg's anthropological curiosity kicked in instantly. "What *exactly* do you need me to do?"

Castle encouraged Ryan, Alexis and Lanie to join him with a wave of his hand, then returned his attention to Sandburg. "For now, just hold hands with everyone else."

Ryan squeezed Lanie's hand when he grabbed it. "You ready for this?"

Lanie nodded. "I shouldn't need to do much here. That cat did most of the work. But what about you? You guys both did a lot today..."

Ryan blew off Lanie's concern. "I'm fine. Better we do this now before too much evidence starts piling up."

Fallon's eyes widened at the 'magic' word. "Evidence? So this is how you guys...?"

Castle nodded. "So, shall we take care of this?" When the Guardians around him nodded, Castle joined the circle and focused everyone on the incantation. "Repair that we have damaged, return the world to its balance and shield us from those who might wish us to be harmed." A blast of energy went out from the group, sending everyone in the park staggering back, disoriented.

When Fallon was able to focus his attention on his surroundings, he couldn't help but smile. The park was...pristine. No trace of blood, beast carcasses, or singed trees were anywhere to be found. And his beloved Network family? They were all standing around on the Great Lawn, looking around in amazement as they realized that all of the death and destruction they had faced in saving the world was now only a brutal part of their memories...and that everything that they had fought for, everything they had risked life and limb for...all of it was safe and sound once again.

The first victory yell wasn't much of a surprise. The second one left Beckett giggling, enjoying the joy she was starting to hear coming from the people around her. By the seventh or eighth yell, though...

It was clear that the celebration was just getting started.

* * *

**_As always, comments welcome! Just a warning that there will probably be only 2-3 more chapters to this story, tops. After that...I'll announce the future of the Guardians when this story comes to its full conclusion. ;-)_**


	28. Chapter 28

The clouds parted just as the sun was starting to set over New York City. And it was in those last rays of sunlight that the desire to celebrate started to overflow through the blessed ones.

One blessed one, in particular. Ekaterina Petrovich took a few minutes to turn her face to the west, drinking in the warmth of the light on her face as hope started to bubble up in her heart. "Honored ones, I am not dreaming, am I? That's the sun? The real sun?"

"You're not dreaming, Katya," Ryan replied, a thousand mixed emotions starting to run through his mind. One of them being an overflowing amount of joy for his old friend. "Congratulations."

Katya let out a triumphant yell of victory, dancing around in the sunlight for the first time in centuries. She then ran straight into the arms of the only man she would possibly want to share such a blessing with.

Fallon kissed Katya back with a joy and a passion that surprised everyone in the group around him. "Can you believe it, Phoenix?!" the vampire exclaimed as the couple finally came up for air. "It was all real," she sighed, letting herself be enveloped by the larger man's embrace.

"Yeah..." Fallon agreed in amazement, squeezing Katya a little tighter in his embrace as he realized what this new reality meant for them *both*. He ran his hand through her hair, across her face and over her neck and shoulders, desperately trying to convince himself that she was really there. In his arms. In the *sunlight*. And if that part of it was real..."So, what do you think?" He asked Katya, trying to keep the nervous edge out of his voice and make the comments sound casual, "Think you'd be willing to spend a few more centuries with me?"

Katya immediately understood where Fallon's thoughts were headed, and pulled the man into a passionate kiss in response. "Are you kidding?" she growled, "You're going to have to get through tonight, first! After all...now that you're immortal, I don't have to be nearly so...gentle..."

Ryan and Esposito watched the couple in disbelief as they ran off to go celebrate with other members of the Network. "Bro, I did *not* see that coming..." exclaimed Esposito.

"Yeah," Ryan added half-heatedly, "me neither..."

_Master Mùshī?_

The arrival of the Siberian Tiger shook Ryan out of his musings and back to the present. "Oh...right, the army...they are dismissed, with our greatest thanks."

_And what of the Phoenix, sir?_

Ryan frowned at the tiger in confusion. "What about him?"

_He has distinguished himself with obvious honor in this battle, sir. Would you like the blessing to remain with him?_

Ryan found himself having to blink back disbelief. "You can *do* that?"

_If you wish it to be so, sir...so it shall be._

Ryan turned his attention back to his ex and her new boyfriend. The love and affection between the two was becoming more and more obvious now that they were finally 'outed' as a couple. "Let the choice be his," Ryan finally declared, "but if he does choose to keep the blessing, I'm sure he will put it to good use."

_As you wish, my Lord..._

Lanie and Esposito studied their friend's face carefully as the white tiger disappeared. It was Lanie who noticed it first. "Ryan?"

"Yeah?"

"Are you okay?" asked Lanie.

Ryan took a moment to decide how to word what he was thinking before he said it. "I've been having trouble with this whole blessing thing...I mean, you two have each other, and Beckett's got Castle, and now Fallon has Katya..."

"And Jenny and the baby are still mortal and don't fall under the blessing?" Lanie completed her friend's though, understanding immediately why his emotions were so mixed. She also understood one important piece of information that he seemed to be forgetting. "Ryan, listen to me. You and Jenny will have centuries together. At *least*. Remember, Tenzin only died because he and Ngawang decided *together* to stop the treatments and live out the rest of their natural lives. Your wife has the same choice here that you do. She just needs a little more...maintenance to keep it up."

Ryan chuckled, finally breaking into the first fully heartfelt smile he'd had since they're reappeared in the park. "Jenny always tells me that's the way everything is for women."

"And for most women, she'd be right," Lanie countered with a smile of her own, not missing a beat. The healer held Ryan carefully by the arms before pulling him into a hug to seal her vow. "Ryan, I can promise you that as long as I'm around, Jenny will be able to stay right by your side. For as long as she's willing to put up with you."

Ryan chuckled again as he returned his friend's hug. "That may be less time than you think," he joked. He pulled away from the embrace slowly, grateful for Lanie's declaration and encouragement. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," Lanie responded with a quiet smile. She then retreated back into the arms of her boyfriend as Ryan pulled out his cellphone.

That phone call was stopped before it could start, though, as Fallon, Katya and the predecessors came up to the Guardians. "Honored ones," Jamyang announced to the group, "now that the crisis has passed, it is time for us to return home."

Castle nodded, understanding that this time was inevitable. "Thank you," he told the men, finding himself unexpectedly choking up, "for being there when we needed you most."

"You are most welcome," said Wangchuk.

The five Guardian spirits bowed deeply to show their respect for their successors. "My brother was right about all of you," Lobsang declared in great humility. "You have shown yourself more than worthy to be the ones to carry the Great Blessing. I am proud to call you brothers...and sisters."

Beckett knelt down in front of her friend, pulling Lobsang up before embracing him. "This is *not* goodbye," she insisted. "I can promise you are not getting rid of me any time soon."

"I look forward to seeing you in the temple soon, young one," Wangchuk agreed. "After all, if we are only able to see our brothers and sisters in the most dire of emergencies, then you clearly have much more to learn."

Beckett took the teasing in stride. "I promise, we'll *all* come for training very soon."

The predecessors then rose as a group and turned to say one final goodbye. "It has been so very good to see you again, child," said Lobsang as the monks turned their attention, as a group, toward Katya. It was then that the Guardian started to choke up of his own volition. "And it is wonderful to finally know that you are happy."

Katya looked around at her friends, old and new, as the world around them seemed to simply be deciding to celebrate its pleasure and relief in still being *alive*. There were so many who knew exactly who she was...exactly *what* she was...and yet loved and accepted her anyway..."I am. For the first time in my life I think I am truly, completely happy."

"As you have deserved to be all along," Ngawang insisted, his eyes shining with his own deep love and respect.

The five monks each embraced Katya in turn, then turned and exchanged handshakes, bows of respect and warm embraces with their successors until all their farewells were said, then turned and walked into the darkness of the park, fading away more and more with every step. Katya sought comfort in Fallon's embrace, and the Guardian couples followed his lead. Missing his wife more and more by the minute, Ryan pulled out his cell phone. "Guys," he announced as he wiped the unshed tears from his eyes, "I'm just going to give Jenny a quick call, let her know we're okay..."

Fallon's expression unexpectedly paled as Ryan's announcement sparked an uncomfortable memory in his own mind. "Um, honored ones...there's something you need to know..."

* * *

The party that night was quickly growing into an urban legend all its own.

It started in the buildings around Central Park. Having had a front-row seat for all the drama, most of the residents huddled in their apartments, watching in horror as the end of the world seemed to be exploding to life just outside their doors. So when the world *didn't* end, the desire to celebrate was not only inevitable...it was infectious.

Building by building, block by block, people started to pour out into the streets to check on their friends, check on their neighbors, and generally get it through their minds and their hearts that they were, indeed, still alive. Someone brought out a bottle of champagne (no one could remember who did it first), and people toasted to getting out of the apocalypse in one piece. Inspired by the idea, someone else brought out a second bottle of champagne and some chips they "just happened to have on hand".

And so the celebration began.

All of the Manhattan safe houses gamely flung open their doors, becoming impromptu, on-the-fly party hosts for celebrations that seemed to become anchor parties for each neighborhood. Parties then spilled out of apartments into hallways and stairwells, then into more and more streets as a mysteriously warm, gentle breeze made the night surprisingly temperate for a December evening...and turning most of Manhattan into the world's largest block party.

Jenny dropped off Alexis off with grandma for the evening, allowing Ryan and his wife to discuss their future, uninterrupted, as Alexis shared her story with Blair, Ellison and the rest of the Guardians. As she finished her story, Castle wrapped his arms around Alexis, comforting her as they stood in the middle of Columbus Circle. "I'm so sorry you had to go through that, sweetheart," said Castle.

"I'm not," Alexis countered as she slowly pulled away from her father's embrace. "Someone had to be the fourth wizard. And I've trained you so much that I had less of a learning curve. It *had* to happen this way. Yes, the pain was horrible. But in the end, it was totally worth it."

Castle pulled his daughter into a second embrace, but with much more positive intent. "I'm so proud of you, pumpkin..." he said as he kissed the top of her head and squeezed her a little tighter.

"I love you, dad..." said Alexis as she pulled away from the embrace.

"I love you, too," said Castle.

"So what about the blessing, Lex?" asked Esposito, voicing the one question that had come up in his mind as his friend told her story. "I mean, I know women always want to look younger than their age, but I'm sure you don't want to get carded for the rest of eternity..."

Alexis nodded. "I've been thinking about that, too. And you're right, Javi. I think I'm still a little young to lock in this age just yet. So for now, I'll keep going...at least for a while."

"Good choice," Beckett agreed.

"About what?" asked Jenny as she and her husband caught up to the rest of the group.

"Alexis has decided to let herself get a little older before she locks in being young and fabulous for all eternity," Castle told them.

Jenny shook her head in amazement. "Yeah, I'm still wrapping my head around that. Wow..."

"It's not really that different from what our situation was before," Lanie commented casually. "It just means a lot less work for me..."

"*And* that a few more people get the golden ticket offered to them," said Ryan, his mind wandering to thoughts of his ex and her new boyfriend.

"Although it's probably not going to feel all that real to me until the next time I get shot at," commented Blair, shifting his weight awkwardly on the balls of his feet.

Alexis reached around her friend's shoulder to reassure him. "I *may* have something that can help you out with that. How much have you played with the manipulation of energy since you got your powers?"

Ellison and the Guardians watched Alexis and Blair start walking down Broadway at a classic New Yorker pace, their enthusiasm carrying them along as they started comparing notes. "Okay, those two have the combined power to take down a large chunk of the world *and* the knowledge of how to use it," said Ellison. "Should we be worried?"

"Nah," Ryan replied with a smile, encouraging the group to follow them at a bit of a distance. "Most of the time they live on opposite sides of the country..."

* * *

**_Hope everyone's still having fun...probably 2 more chapters to go after this. Comments always welcome!_**


	29. Chapter 29

The NYPD 12th Precinct had apparently, for one night, been taken over by the Network.

By the time the Guardians had arrived from Central Park, the patrol cars had been moved to the ends of the block and parking spots on the surrounding avenues. The entrance to the precinct was surrounded by a DJ and multiple buffet tables full of all kinds of food and drink (including alcohol for those off-duty). "Wow..." Beckett exclaimed, taking in the mix of civilians and on-duty and off-duty cops that now surrounded her. "You'd think they had a wizard on call or something..."

Castle threw his hands up in a defensive position. "I had *nothing* to do with this..."

"He's right, honey. This is what happens when Martha has a lot to worry about and far too much time on her hands with nothing better to do..."

Beckett turned and flung her arms around the man who had just spoken to her. "Dad!"

Jim Beckett embraced his daughter with the equal enthusiasm, grateful that she had once again survived against impossible odds. "Hiya, Katie," he greeted her, "glad to see you made it."

Beckett saw through the casual greeting right away. "I'm glad to be here, too," she said.

Castle watched the interactions between father and daughter and decided to give them some privacy. "If you two will excuse me, I'm going to go track down my mother and make sure she's not drinking enough to start bragging about her son, the wizard..."

Jim and Kate watched the group separate and find old and new friends before continuing their conversation. "So...how are you?"

Kate smiled...a broad, warm smile that spoke of a heart finally at peace. "I'm good, dad," she replied. "I'm really, really good."

* * *

Martha Rodgers was in her element. As much as she adored the creativity and the craft of acting...her passion, she had long ago, was in giving to people. First, it was to her son, and later her granddaughter. Then, it was her life coaching clients, and after that, her acting students...

And tonight? Tonight it was the people of New York City. Network members were at her beck and call, making sure everyone was had plenty of food and drink and could enjoy the celebration. A celebration that her son had made possible. By saving the world. Again. Martha shook her head as her thoughts grew ever more amazing.

She wasn't sure she could ever get used to this.

"Mother?" a very familiar asked her with a voice that was clearly showing his own amazement, "Are you *running* all of this?"

Martha found fighting back the tears to be impossible. "Oh, Richard..." she choked out, turning around to tightly embrace her son and granddaughter. "I'm so glad you're all right..."

Castle couldn't even correct her with false reassurance. He simply hugged her tighter. "Me too, mother. Me too."

As the trio pulled back from their embrace, Alexis returned the group's focus to the party around them. "Grams, are you the one hosting this party?"

"It's something of a pot luck..." Martha replied, trying to discount her own involvement.

"Can you get someone to cover for you so we can catch up?" asked Castle.

Martha looked around, trying to find a Network member who wasn't dancing, eating or otherwise enjoying the party. "I don't know..."

Alexis shared a knowing, mischievous look with her father, who nodded his approval. She then laid her hand on the buffet table and spoke her incantation. "Refocillant et replete..." When Castle rolled his eyes at his daughter's choice of incantation, Alexis was unapologetic. "What? I grew up with Harry Potter, dad. I like the Latin..."

The table flashed with a wave of light that passed over the food, replenishing the bowls, restoring casserole dishes so that they were once again whole and piping hot, and passing through each beverage bottle, refilling each bottle back to the top. A curious rookie decided to see what this new potential miracle was that they had just witnessed. They grabbed a paper plate and decided to test the waters by dishing up a serving of the baked ziti.

The pan looked like it had never been touched.

Martha stared open-mouthed at her granddaughter. "Apparently," she gasped out weakly, "I need to get caught up after all..."

* * *

"See, Steve? Wasn't it worth getting out of that gym for this?"

Steve took a sip of his beer as he took in the scene in front of him. "It's a *party*, LT. You dragged me all the way out of Brooklyn for a block party?"

LT chuckled in disbelief at his friend's world-weary response. "You think I would drag you out for just *any* block party? C'mon, I got some guys you gotta meet."

"Sure," Steve replied with a shy smile, "just let me get a beer first."

"Al'right," LT agreed.

Steve made his way over to the buffet table, heading straight for the drinks. It was only when he turned around, though, that Steve realized something very important.

In the sea of people surrounding him, finding LT again was going to be next to impossible.

Steve twisted off the top to his beer and sipped the drink, grateful to give his hands something to do while his mind assessed the situation. LT was a good man, and a good friend...who seemed to be making it his mission in life to help Steve *get* a life. In particular, LT seemed hell-bent on helping him make more friends than the three or four men who had some contact with him at the gym. The poor cop was probably dragging his buddies through this mass of people, trying to follow through with whatever introductions he was so determined to make that night.

"Not much for big parties, huh?"

It took Steve a moment to realize that someone was talking to him. He turned to find the a young redhead was the one who had spoken to him. "Not really, ma'am," he replied politely. "Haven't really been to one in quite a long time..."

The redhead seemed hung up on the first part of what Steve had said to her. "Ma'am..." she commented with a quiet chuckle as she played with the label on her bottle of seltzer. "I think that's the first time anyone's ever called me ma'am..."

_My God, she's so young..._thought Steve. He held out his hand to the redhead in introduction. "Steve Rogers."

When their hands touched, the connection between them was electric. It surprised him to make that kind of connection with someone so young, but then when he looked into her eyes...she was a mass of contradictions, clearly. Her entire countenance gave off that air of youth and innocence that he heard in her voice when she first spoke. But her eyes...her eyes spoke of wisdom and intelligence far beyond her years and power beyond anything he'd ever seen. It was like he was shaking hands with the woman the expression 'Old Soul' was created for...

"Steve? Steve?"

It was only then that Steve realized that he hadn't let go of her hand...or found out who she was. He pulled his hand back like it had been set on fire, blushing as he realized that any attempt to look cool had long ago gone up in smoke. This caused the redhead to chuckle again...a low throaty noise that made him glad to have embarrassed himself, if only to have had the opportunity to hear it. "S-s-sorry...sorry about that," he stammered, his cheeks a furious red from blushing.

"It's okay," the redhead soothed. "I think it's cute."

Steve decided to throw caution to the wind. "Can we try that again?" he asked. "Now that I've gotten looking completely foolish out of the way, I'd at least like to know your name."

"Sure," the redhead agreed, eliciting another coveted chuckle.

Steve once again extended his hand to the young woman in greeting. "Steve Rogers. Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you, Steve," the redhead responded as she shook Steve's hand. "Alexis Castle."

* * *

"So who is this guy you want us to meet?" asked Ryan.

LT was practically bouncing on his heels with excitement as they headed back to where he thought Steve was going to be. "A friend of mine from the gym. He's...new in town."

"And why do you want *us* to meet him?" Esposito asked warily.

LT scratched the back of his neck, trying to explain his reasoning without giving anyone's secrets away. "Detectives...let's just say I think the three of you might have a lot in common."

When the three men reached the buffet table, they were all stunned by what they were seeing. Steve and Alexis had commandeered the end of one of the dining tables, and were striking up a conversation that seemed to be giving them the power to shut out the rest of the world. Esposito let out a low, protective growl as his instincts kicked in with a vengeance...the need to protect the girl he now thought of as his kid sister overriding almost all rational thought.

Ryan picked up on the change in his partner's emotional state immediately. _Easy, Javi,_ he projected into the mind-link, _they're just talking._

_I don't know,_ countered Esposito, _something about this guy feels...off._

_Only one way to be sure, _Ryan returned through the mind-link, _let LT introduce you to the guy._

While he didn't recognize the young redhead that Steve was talking to, LT couldn't help but notice the hesitation in the men standing beside him. "Detectives, I swear...he's cool." He then turned his focus on getting his friend's attention. "Steve!"

Steve looked up from his conversation with Alexis to find his friend LT being flanked two strong-looking gentlemen. _Apparently, these must be the men LT was so anxious for me to meet..._"Hey LT," Steve greeted his friend, "how'd you figure out where I was?"

"Easy," LT teased, "When you want to find the wallflower you just look for the walls..." He stepped back to make the introductions. "Steve, I'd like you to meet Detectives Kevin Ryan and Javier Esposito. Detectives, this is my friend, Steve Rogers."

"Nice to meet you," Ryan said casually as he shook Steve's hand. He then had to resist the urge to draw in a sharp, nervous breath as Steve shook Esposito's hand.

Esposito had to resist the urge to gasp himself. Not from the shock of downloading the memories of the man in front of him, but from the memories themselves. Memories of an old war. Of lost love. Great physical deeds of heroism. And a red, white and blue suit of armor that seemed oddly familiar...

Ryan sensed the change in his partner's demeanor immediately. _Javi? What did you see?_

_I'll show you later, _replied Esposito. _But I think I've heard of this guy before..._

_You've heard of him?_

_Yeah._

_So who is he?_

Esposito sent an image of the red, white and blue suit down the mind-link to his partner. _Bro, you ever hear of Captain America? _

Ryan had to fight to keep the shock from showing on his face. _No way..._

LT had stalled for as long as he could, and Esposito knew it was time for them to join the conversation before the silence got suspiciously awkward. "So," he asked Steve, "where do you two work out again...?"

* * *

"So you were born four years after Ivan the Terrible came to power? Wow..."

Katya chuckled at the shaman's amusement. "I had to have been born sometime, Mr. Sandburg..."

"Yeah, but still, that must make you something, like, 500 years old?" Sandburg shook his head in amazement as Katya nodded.

The first rays of sunlight were coming up over the tops of the buildings as the party finally wound down. Ellison and Sandburg had spent most of the night talking with Fallon and Katya, their conversation being occasionally interrupted by members of the Network who wanted to embrace Katya, shake Fallon's hand, or in some other way thank them for the Network, for saving the world, or for changing their lives.

Every chance he got, though, Sandburg steered the conversation back to finding out more about the world that, two nights prior, he would have never believed existed. "So you can *date* humans? Without turning them or..."

"Eating them?" Katya had no qualms about bringing up the topic. "My kind is more adapted to multiple blood sources than our fictional accounts would have you believe. Myself, I prefer cow's blood. Human blood has become the equivalent to alcohol for my kind; I enjoy it, but only in small quantities."

"Similar type of effect?" asked Sandburg.

Katya nodded. "Similar. And similarly dangerous if I...overdo it."

Sandburg turned his attention back to the mixed relationship as Alexis, Lanie and Esposito sat down with the group at the table. "So how long have the two of you been dating?"

"About three months," Fallon replied.

The timeframe was much longer than Sandburg had anticipated. "Really? And you've kept the relationship secret all this time?" When Fallon nodded, the shaman asked the only question that could be on his mind. "Why? Is it because Katya's a vampire?"

"I doubt it," Jenny said as she and her husband came with Castle, Beckett and their parents to join the rest of the team at the table. Jenny made sure to hug and congratulate Fallon and Katya before sitting down and continuing the conversation. "I have a feeling it had most to do with one of Katya's ex-boyfriends than anything else."

"Why would your ex have anything to do with it?" asked Sandburg.

"Because I'm the ex," said Ryan.

Sandburg nearly spit out his beer. "You and Katya used to date?"

Ryan nodded. "About eight years ago. Long before I married Jenny or any of this happened."

Sandburg was having trouble wrapping his head around the fact that he was sitting at the same table with two mortal boyfriends of a vampire. "How long did you two date?" he asked Ryan.

"Four years," Ryan replied with a shrug.

Jenny, on the other hand, was far more interested in Katya's current relationship. "So you guys have been dating for three *months*?" asked Jenny. "How did *that* start?"

"I'm kind of interested in that myself. Is *she* one of your people?"

Fallon had to resist feeling like the walls were closing in on him...much like the woman who, he recognized immediately, had just come up behind him. "Everyone," Fallon announced nervously, "I...I'd like to introduce all of you to my boss, Homeland Security Director Diane McPherson."

* * *

**_One more chapter to go! So before my usual begging for comments, the post-twist disclaimer: Steve Rogers is *not* mine. Anyone who's seen the Avengers knows that he belongs to the one, the only, the legendary...Sean Elt. And anyone who doesn't get that reference needs to go watch "Heroes and Villains" again. :-P. All comments welcome!_**


	30. Chapter 30

In his worst nightmares, Mark Fallon had anticipated many, many scenarios happening in a meeting like this. The most likely possibility, he had assumed, would be seeing his boss flanked by a dozen Black Ops types and having to watch his friends get carried off to be dissected as he went off in handcuffs. Then there were the hypothetical arrests by the Feds, by the locals...once, he even had a nightmare about being arrested by half-human cyber-pigs...

But there was one thing that he never expected to happen. One thing he had bent over backwards to try to *prevent* from happening. And it was unfolding in front of him: two men who had just helped them to save the world; two men he barely knew but who the Guardians trusted implicitly...

Those two men were hugging his *boss* like they were old, dear friends. "I'm starting to feel like I missed a memo..." Fallon muttered. He wasn't the only one. He heard the unmistakable aggressive hissing of his girlfriend next to him, and could practically feel the tension radiating off the rest of the Guardians, who had gone on high alert at the same time that he had.

In fact, the only ones who seemed to not be radiating high levels of tension were Ellison, Sandburg...and his boss. "Diane!" Sandburg exclaimed as he embraced the director in a warm, affectionate greeting. "It's been far too long."

"You guys do such a good job protecting Cascade I don't need to be out there that much..." Diane said with a smile. The love she had for the two men was obvious. "It's good to see you."

"It's good to see you, too," said Ellison.

It was only then that Blair noticed the rest of his friends surrounding him, clearly on the defensive. An image of an ambush of tigers, ready to strike, flashed through his mind. "Whoa!" he exclaimed, suddenly desperate to diffuse the situation. "Guys, it's okay! Diane's totally cool."

This one statement threw half of the group for a complete loop. "You guys *trust* the Director of Homeland Security?" Castle asked in disbelief.

Diane rolled her eyes in annoyance. "Does *nobody* read the news anymore?" She turned her attention to the group that was so nervous in her presence. "Before I was appointed Director of Homeland Security, I was Cascade Police Commissioner."

"So she knows?" asked Ryan, fighting to blink back his disbelief.

Ellison nodded, and turned to the two men he knew could instantly defuse the situation. "Remember when I told you that Simon was the reason I still had Blair as my partner?" When Ryan nodded, Ellison clarified, "he's only half the reason. Diane is the other half."

Esposito reached into his vault of memories, going deep into the memories he carried from the first time he met Ellison and Sandburg. "Guys, it's all true. The Director's legit. She knows everything about Jim and Blair."

"I don't get any evasion or lying from any of them," Ryan agreed.

"Wait, exactly *what* does she know?" asked Fallon, getting more confused by the minute.

Esposito was starting to realize that he might be the only one who knew every aspect of this story. And since the lack of detail was starting to set people at each other's throats..."Guys, what do you say we take this into the precinct? Get into the conference room and lay all the cards on the table?"

Diane, Fallon, Ellison and the Guardians all nodded in agreement. As the group started to head into the precinct, Katya pulled her boyfriend aside. "Do you need me to stay behind? You know my kind are very good with making sure bodies stay hidden..."

"Shhh!" Fallon cut Katya off before she could say anything more incriminating. "I'd prefer it if you got everyone else from the Network home safely," he told her as quietly as he dared. "I'll protect all of you for as long as I possibly can, but that'll be easier to do if I don't have to explain that you guys are any more than friends and family."

"And one wayward smile will cause your boss to start asking questions you don't want to have to answer," added Katya. Fallon nodded in agreement. "All right, I'll go. Please, *be careful*. A lot of awful things can be done to immortals when they know you cannot die. Trust me, I know from experience."

"I promise," Fallon agreed solemnly. His eyes, though, quickly sparked with teasing mischief as he smiled. "Hey, at least I don't have to worry about getting you home by sunrise anymore..."

Katya rolled her eyes, but her half-smile showed her obvious affection for the man in front of her. "Go! Be careful." The couple quickly parted ways: Fallon to head up to the homicide conference room and Katya to help people get home safely.

* * *

Diane started the meeting as Fallon closed the door behind him, ensuring that all of the most interested parties were in the same room. Her first move, though, was one of politeness, introducing herself to Gates. "Are you the Precinct Commander?"

"Yes, ma'am," Gates replied with a respectful coldness. "Captain Victoria Gates, ma'am."

"Nice to meet you, Captain Gates," Diane replied as she shook the cop's hand. "I'm..."

"I know who you are, Director," Gates cut the woman off bluntly. "What I don't know is what you want with my people."

Diane liked the protective streak in the Captain immediately...enough to ignore the rudeness of the woman's comment. "Possibly nothing, Captain. Although I suspect that doing nothing is the least likely result that will come out of this..." The Director started to pace the room, studying all the players involved. Finally, she decided to start with the one person in the room who was (or at least had been) under her direct command. "Agent Fallon?"

"Yes, ma'am?" Fallon replied, not quite able to meet his boss' eyes just yet.

Diane could tell immediately that even though she had Ellison and Sandburg vouching for her, she was still on the hot seat in terms of proving herself trustworthy. "First, I want to let you know that you and 'your people' have the thanks of a grateful nation. You were true to your word, Mr. Fallon. Whatever it was that happened in Central Park today, it was taken care of with no damage and almost no casualties. I'm certain that a military response would not have allowed us to say the same thing."

Fallon appreciated the comment...but knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that his boss was just warming up. "Thank you, ma'am."

"Can I feel safe in saying that the people in this room are your 'people' that you mentioned?"

Fallon nodded. He turned a skeptical glare toward Ellison and Sandburg as he added, "Although I don't really know enough about your friends to have them fall into that category quite yet, at least for me..."

Esposito decided to take that problem off the table first. "We met Jim and Blair before the anthrax case, Fallon. We trust them as much as we trust you."

Fallon insisted, "even though they had a connection to the Director of Homeland Security that neither you nor I knew about until today?" Esposito nodded.

Jim spoke up in defense of his friend. "Agent Fallon, if the Director couldn't be trusted, I wouldn't be here. Neither would Sandburg. We would have gone 'missing' a long time ago."

Fallon caught on right away as to what 'missing' meant, finally putting two and two together. "That's why Beckett requested you specifically for her sniper unit..." he mused. Jim nodded, confirming Fallon's suspicions. "So it wasn't just Sandburg..." The agent's attitude toward the two men turned on a dime. "Forgive me, Detective Ellison. If I had known..."

Ellison waved off the apology. "You didn't know. I'm surprised you trusted us to the extent you did."

"They trust you," Fallon commented with a casual shrug. "At the time that was enough. We needed all the help we could get, after all."

Diane was now the only one who was lost, and she knew it. "Okay, first things first: who's *they*?"

Five hands reluctantly went up in the air. "We are the descendants of a group called the Guardians of Shangri La," Castle declared solemnly, hoping that would be the end of it.

He didn't get so lucky. By calling attention to himself, Diane recognized Castle from the news broadcasts. "You...you're the reason the Plaza didn't collapse until the evacuations were complete..."

Castle swallowed hard, then nodded. "How did you know?"

"The President noticed you as he was being evacuated," Diane replied. "He picked you out in the footage of the survivors and pointed you out to me. So...pardon me for being so blunt about this, but what are you, exactly?"

Castle sighed, knowing he would probably have to explain almost everything. "I'm a wizard."

Diane soon proved to be as quick as she was trustworthy. "Like Blair?" Castle's nod inspired Diane to push further. "And if you two share similar abilities..." The Director turned her attention to Beckett. "Does that mean you're a Sentinel?"

"Of a sort," Beckett replied, hoping to deflect attention away from herself.

Her answer seemed to placate Diane, who turned her attentions to Ryan. "You said earlier that you didn't sense that I was lying. Can you read minds, or just emotions?"

"Both," Ryan replied simply.

"Wow..." Diane exclaimed, trying to process what she had heard so far. She turned her attention to Esposito. "You were much more specific than your friend here, earlier. In fact, you were *very* specific in saying that you knew that I knew about Jim and Blair. Are you a telepath too, like your friend here?"

Esposito shook his head. "My partner reads people's thought process. I...read memory."

"And retain it, evidently...?" Esposito nodded.

Only one Guardian was left. "I'm sorry, we haven't talked since I arrived, Ms..."

"Doctor," Lanie supplied in correction. "Doctor Lanie Parish."

It was then that Diane realized something. "You know, Doctor Parish, you're the first one of your friends who actually introduced themselves to me..." Sufficiently chastised, the rest of the group quickly went through introductions.

Once she got everyone's names, Diane then turned her attention back to Lanie. "You're a doctor..." the Director mused, using the puzzle of the last ability to process everything she had heard so far. Her eyes widened as another piece of that puzzle clicked into place. "You're some sort of...psychic healer, aren't you?"

"Yeah," Lanie replied with equal surprise, "how'd you know?"

"The anthrax case," Diane replied. "The 'Miracle at St. Vincent's'. Not knowing enough about everyone's abilities I could have assumed that Mr. Castle had the power to do that all by himself...but if everyone has a unique ability, it would make sense that yours would have something to do with healing. It was something of a lucky guess, I suppose."

Diane looked out the window at the aftermath of the block party from the night before...the celebration of life. The life everyone thought had the very real possibility of ending that day. "There's one thing I still don't get," she asked the group as a whole. "You guys obviously have a tremendous amount of power. But seven people...any seven people...can't take out the armies that I saw in that television coverage today. Not without a lot of help."

Six pairs of eyes flew around the room in silent communication with each other. Realizing quickly that there was a debate going on that he wasn't a part of, Ellison spoke up. "Guys, listen. By this point, with the power that she has, Diane knows more than enough to make your lives miserable for a long, long time. I *know* that you've only given her the most minimal amount of information you could give up. At this point, though...I think it has to be all or nothing."

"He's right," Fallon relented. "As much as I really, *really* hate to say it...Ellison's right. At this point the one thing that may be stopping her from classifying us as enemy combatants is the fact that Castle saved the President's life." When Diane nodded her agreement, Fallon pushed his point home. "I've seen it done. Hell, I've *done* it. If we're going to trust the Director, then we need to trust her. With everything."

The five Guardians almost sighed as a unit, each seeming to come to the collective realization that Fallon's logic was irrefutable. "Okay," Beckett announced, seemingly speaking for the group as a whole. "The whole story, beginning to now. Now, Director, is there anyone else who needs to hear what we have to say?"

Diane's eyes widened as she realized who needed to hear this. "There is. Would anyone mind if I made a quick phone call?"

Castle, to everyone's surprise, had a reaction on his face that was similar to the Director's. "Anyone mind if I bring someone in, as well?" Ryan projected Castle's mental image through the rest of the group.

The group then nodded their consent to both calls, and the Director was on the phone within seconds. "Sir?" she asked the man on the other end of the line.

Beckett decided to listen in...and when she did, the voice she heard almost sent her into a zone-out. "Diane, do you know what time it is?"

"I do, sir," Diane replied. "I'm in New York. With Fallon's 'people'."

All traces of sleep were gone from the President's voice. "Do you know who they are? Are they friendly?"

"Sir..." Diane hesitated for a moment, trying to come up with the best way to word what she needed to say over the phone. "Sir, can you...can you clear your schedule for a couple of hours? And get some privacy away from your Secret Service detail?"

The President was immediately wary of Diane's question. "Why?"

"I think you need to hear their story, sir," replied Diane. "And they're willing to tell it."

The President came to his decision quickly. "Where and when?"

"When will be as soon as you're ready to see us, sir," Diane replied. "As for where...?"

When she muted the receiver, Diane looked up to find that the decision had already been made. "We'll go to him," Beckett replied quickly. "I'll let Castle know the location as soon as he decides."

The President was already in action when Diane got back on the line. "Sir, we'll come to you."

Diane heard the President hesitate on the other end of the line. "You said you're in New York, right?"

"Yes, sir?"

"So how...?"

Diane cut off her boss quickly. "Sir, trust me when I say that you probably shouldn't ask that particular question for a while...at least until you've heard the whole story."

"All right..." the President agreed warily.

"In an ideal situation, sir, when would you want to meet with us?"

The President paused to think it over. "In my office in ten minutes, I suppose..."

Diane took the President at his word as soon as she got Beckett's approval to do so. "You got it, sir. We'll be in your office in ten minutes." She got off the phone to find the group around her already preparing to leave. "I take it you were eavesdropping?" Beckett tried to feign an innocent look, which was halted almost instantly. "Save it, Detective. You work with a Sentinel long enough, you begin to understand their playbook pretty well." Leveling a teasing glare at Sandburg, Diane then added, "and don't get me started on their Guides..." The reference back to the Director's days in Cascade made Jim and Blair smile, which seems to ratchet down the tension in the room just slightly. Remembering who else asked to make a phone call, Diane turned her attention to Castle. "Out of curiosity, Mr. Castle...who else will be joining us?"

"The mayor," Castle replied. "After the Plaza I promised him he'd get an explanation. Since this seems to be the most official of explanations, I figured, why wait?"

"Why wait, indeed," agreed Diane. "So how does this work, exactly?"

Castle checked his watch. "I'm going to bring Bob here, first, then take us all to DC as a group. When the President said his office, can I assume he meant the Oval Office?"

Diane nodded. "I just hope he remembers to clear out the guys with guns..."

"Duly noted," said Castle, making a mental note to have shields up the second they touch down in the office. "Are we ready?"

When everyone in the room nodded, Bob Wheldon appeared. And nearly fell over. "Easy, there, Bob..." Castle joked. "You wanted me to give you an explanation and I can't give it to you if you faint."

Wheldon's face paled as his mind went to what now probably qualified as the second strangest night of his life. "Now? You're going to explain the Plaza *now*?"

"Actually..." Castle replied, "not quite now."

The group jumped from the precinct conference room to the Oval Office in the blink of an eye...where a stunned Mayor locked eyes with a stunned President...

And both men promptly fainted.

* * *

An hour later, the President and Mayor Wheldon were conscious...barely. The overwhelmed men sat back, believing everything they had seen and heard only with the greatest of difficulty. "Can I ask all of you a question?" asked the President.

"Whatever you want to know, sir," Fallon replied.

"Senator Bracken and Vice President Russell...do you know where they are?"

"Dead," Castle replied with simple honesty. "I'm sorry, sir, but both men died when they were possessed by the Death Gods."

The President drew in a deep breath and blew it out slowly, trying to accept what he had just heard on top of everything else. "And you have every reason to believe those...Death Gods were behind the bombing of the Plaza?" When six heads nodded, the President asked, "These Gods...they're being punished for their crimes?"

"For the next 2,750 years," Beckett replied.

"Give or take a couple of months," added Castle.

The President chucked bitterly at Castle's comment. A thousand emotions seemed to be warring within his heart and soul...but they all lead up to one question above everything else. "I only have one question left," he declared to everyone in the room. "What do we do with all of you..."

A knot started to form in the pit of Fallon's stomach. "Sir?"

"I think all of you know exactly what I'm talking about," the President countered. "If I let the Joint Chiefs anywhere near you, they would want nothing more than to weaponize your abilities. But if, God forbid, all of this went public...magic, Gods, Guardians, supernatural powers..."

"But it *is* public, already," the Mayor exclaimed. "At least, in New York."

The President was completely caught off guard by Wheldon's comments. "I don't follow..."

Wheldon quickly launched into his explanation, turning to Diane first. "The Guardians have been exceptional at cleaning up after their battles and preventing information from leaking out, right? So much so that the only evidence you had before now were some satellite photos?" When Diane nodded, Wheldon pushed on. "And instead of forming some crazy lynch mob, New Yorkers stepped up, protecting the Guardians and helping them any way they could through Agent Fallon's Network?" When Diane nodded again, Wheldon turned to the President to drive his point home. "Why not just let them keep doing it?"

"You want to keep them in New York," said the President.

"Why not?" Wheldon countered. "Turn the Network into its own agency. Top Secret, answerable only to you and Director McPherson. They take on the cases your other agencies aren't able to handle, and in return you help to protect them and their families."

The President saw the value in the idea...he just had one question. "And how do you propose we fund this venture?"

Wheldon swallowed hard, knowing he was making a decision that would profoundly affect the future of his city. "New York City's Homeland Security Funding. We devote it fully to the Guardians."

The President's eyes widened in surprise. "You're serious? You believe in this that much?"

"I do," Wheldon replied. His voice choked up as mind flashed back to watching the collapse of the Plaza...and assuming that his friend had died saving everyone in the building...somehow. "New York City is a target. Maybe one of *the* major targets. We all know this...These men and women have saved the city time and time again over the past year. I'd much rather find a way to protect the city now than have to deal with the consequences if we don't. And right now I can't think of a better group to protect the city than these people."

The President looked to Diane. "What do you think?"

"I think it's an excellent idea," Diane replied. "If we give them autonomy they can obviously handle threats all over the world, not just in New York. It's a massive level of national protection for comparatively minimal cost."

"So you think we should do this?" asked the President. Diane nodded, so the President turned to the people who would be most affected by the idea. "What about all of you?" he asked the Guardians. "What do you think?"

The Guardians shared a few moments of unspoken communication with Agent Fallon. Their expressions softened almost simultaneously as everyone seemed to be resolved to their decision at the same time. Ryan spoke quietly for the group. "Sir...we would be honored."

The President shuffled some papers around on his desk, trying to buy himself some time to consider the idea. It quickly became obvious to him, though, that this was, indeed, the best of all possible solutions. "In that case...Guardians, will you step forward?"

Castle, Beckett, Lanie, Ryan and Esposito stepped forward at the President's request. And in a quiet, oddly informal, and very top secret moment, they each raised their right hand and repeated the oath that would forever change their lives...

"I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God."

* * *

**_I know I said this was going to be the last chapter. There are, however, a few more loose ends to tie up (both in the story and with you guys), so I will be posting an epilogue tomorrow. But for now, I hope you guys are enjoying everything and, as always, I'd love to hear what you think!_**


	31. Chapter 31

The President had to keep himself from staring the five people in front of him when it hit him that he had just sworn five superheroes into the service of his country. "Thank you, Guardians," he told the group in front of him.

"Thank you, sir," the Guardians responded, in kind, as a group.

The President then turned to his trusted advisor. "Diane, let me know what they need later today and I'll make sure it happens."

The Homeland Security Director knew that that meant the meeting was, effectively, over. "Yes, sir."

"Thank you, everyone," the President announced to the group, ending the meeting.

"Thank you, sir," Diane responded in kind, officially ending the meeting. "Mr. Castle, you can get us back to New York, right?"

The group disappeared from the Oval Office in the blink of an eye, causing the President to shake his head in amazement. "It's going to take me some time to get used to that..."

* * *

The Homicide division conference room went from empty to full in a split second. Captain Gates unlocked the room when she heard the instant increase in noise, and entered to a roomful of people who seemed to be reeling in disbelief themselves. "Well?" she asked the group. "What happened?"

"We're creating a new agency," said Mayor Wheldon. "For the Guardians and the Network."

"Really?" Gates exclaimed in clear surprise. "Local or Federal?"

"Federal," Diane replied. Her mind was already actively working on what would be needed to form the new agency. "Your first official case will be the disappearances of the Vice President and Senator Bracken. What you do with that is up to you, but the classification will keep other agencies off your backs."

Fallon nodded his approval of the idea. "Thank you, ma'am."

"Oh, don't thank me yet, Fallon," Diane countered with a small chuckle. "My next suggestion to the President is going to be to appoint you as the head of the agency."

Fallon was starting to wonder if the rift was re-opening underneath his feet. "Excuse me?"

"You're the perfect man for the job," Diane replied. "Don't get me wrong," she added, pointing to the Guardians, "I'm fully aware of who's really going to be running the show here. The head of the agency is going to be more of a...liaison to me and the President. You've been around Washington long enough to know how things work without getting jaded, you're fiercely protective of your people, and you've been able to put together an incredibly impressive operation on a budget of next to no money. Quite frankly, I can't think of anyone more qualified to run this thing."

Now understanding his boss' reasoning, Fallon was deeply touched by the faith she was putting in him. "Thank you, ma'am."

"You're welcome...Director," Diane replied with a sly smile. "Now, the first thing you need to do is come up with a budget and a list of essential personnel. We won't be able to start you guys off with much at first without attracting suspicion. Keep that in mind."

"Yes, ma'am," said Fallon. The Guardians then shifted their attention to the two men who hadn't spoken since they left for DC. "So what do you think, Jim, Blair?" asked Fallon. "Should I put you two down for spots on the team?"

Diane didn't need to read minds to know what her old friends' answers would be. "While I appreciate the offer," said Ellison, "our destiny lies in Cascade. I'm afraid we'll have to decline." Blair nodded at his side.

"Will you at least agree to become consultants?" asked Castle.

Blair had to fight a chuckle, given who had asked the question and what the word 'consultant' had meant to them both. "Consultants, huh? Why don't we just leave it at 'call us if you need us'?"

"Agreed," replied Castle with a chuckle.

The group said their goodbyes to the Sentinel and his Guide with warm hugs all around before Castle sent them back to Cascade. Fallon then turned his focus back to his team. "All right, so who else do we need to talk to?"

* * *

**_Six weeks later _**

The party at the Old Haunt was quickly reaching legendary status. Which, most of the party guests would admit, was probably only fitting. The banner behind the bar read "Happy Retirement". It was something that most people considered to be something of an inside joke under the circumstances...since the guests of honor were not only not retiring, but they were unlikely to retire for a long, long time.

In the owner's back corner booth, the four couples for whom the party was being thrown were engaged in a lively debate. Well...not exactly a debate. One person seemed particularly hell-bent on a idea. And five others were trying to talk him out of it.

"I'll *buy* them for everybody!"

His beloved rolled her eyes. "No."

"Aw, c'mon! It would be so cool!"

"If you want one for yourself, fine," she countered. "You can wear it for funerals."

"Funerals?! But, Kate..."

Beckett was not going to back down on this. "Castle! We are not going to require everyone to wear black suits and Ray-bans!"

"B-b-but aren't we the Men in Black, now? Shouldn't we dress the part?"

Fallon was starting to tire of this argument. "Ryan, can't you just change his mind on this?"

Ryan, for his part, was enjoying Castle's attitude and everyone else's annoyance at it. "Not permanently," he replied with a chuckle. "Sorry."

Fallon then turned to his own fiancée. "Come on, Katya, please? I know you could end this..."

"I could," Katya teased, "but my darling, where would the fun be in that?"

Fallon rolled his eyes...then leaned into their embrace for a gentle kiss. He could never stay annoyed at her for long.

Castle seemed to be slowly relenting on his own. "I'm still buying a pair of Ray-bans for myself, though," he pouted.

Beckett leaned in to soothed her boyfriend's wounded ego with a gentle kiss of their own. "Ray-bans would look good on you, honey."

"You think so?" Castle asked quietly, slowing coming out of his pout.

"Absolutely," Beckett replied with the smile she knew Castle found irresistible. It worked immediately; Castle smiled and relaxed in return, effectively ending the argument.

"Detectives. Agent Fallon. Mr. Castle."

The group looked up to greet their latest guest. "Captain Gates!" Castle exclaimed, "I'm glad you could come join us tonight."

"How could I resist? After all, this is a celebration for me as well...since you're now somebody else's problem..." teased Gates.

Castle nodded with a conciliatory smile. "Oh, so *that's* why you turned down the job offer..."

Gates' teasing faded out as her tone turned genuine and sincere. "I'm a cop. And I'm perfectly happy *being* a cop. You guys are destined for more than that." She tilted the neck of her beer toward her former detectives in salute. "You guys take care of yourselves out there."

The group lifted their drinks up to join their former boss in the toast. As they brought their glasses back to the table, Ryan commented, "you'll probably see us around, Captain..."

That earned a hearty chuckle from Gates as she made her way back into the crowd. "No offense, but I really hope not..."

The people at the table watched, quiet for a moment as Gates disappeared into the crowd. "Who'd have thought?" Beckett commented wryly. "You got Gates to like you after all..."

Castle didn't miss a beat. He leaned back in the booth with a teasing cockiness. "What can I say? *All* women find me irresistible..."

"Eventually," Beckett added matter-of-factly, eliciting a round of laughter from everyone at the table.

As the laughter died down, an odd thought seemed to cross Lanie's mind. Esposito noticed the change in his fiancée's mood through their bond-link. "Babe? What is it?"

"I just realized something," said Lanie. "Beckett, do you realize that it's been six weeks since your mother's case was closed for good?"

Beckett sat back in the booth, the truth just hitting her as well. "Huh. You're right. I didn't even think about it."

"Do you have any idea what you might want to do, y'know, now that that's all behind you?" asked Lanie.

"You mean besides having to save the world on a regular basis?" Beckett teased in reply. "To be honest, I really don't know. I never thought that far ahead before."

"I might have an idea about that," Castle announced cryptically. The mystery was quickly solved, though, as Castle stood up and then knelt down before his beloved muse and soulmate. "Katherine Beckett, I could have anything in the world. Literally, in my case," Castle added with a small chuckle. "But there's only one thing I want, and that's you by my side. Would you make the the happiest man of all time and marry me?"

Beckett stared at the man on one knee before him, holding a ring in his hand. She knew that, in his heart, he had to have known what her answer would be...but the fact that he was still so nervous melted her heart all over again. There was no other way to answer his question. "Yes," she said, nodding as the tears started to stream down her face. "Yes, I'll marry you, Castle..."

Rick swept Kate off her feet in an instant, kissing her with such an enthusiastic passion that the ring almost fell out of his hand. The second the couple thought to come up for air, though, Castle pulled away from his fiancée's embrace just long enough to slip the ring on her finger and pull her into another passionate kiss...one that was ended not by their own emotions, but by the deafening roar of applause that erupted throughout the bar at the news of their engagement. The Guardians embraced their teammates first, then Castle and Beckett found themselves swept away on a wave of good tidings as every person in the bar seemed to want to congratulate them.

By the time the couple got back to the table, they returned to find a bottle of champagne and eight glasses waiting for them. "I figured another toast was in order," Fallon told them.

The couple readily agreed and took glasses as they were passed around to the four couples at the table. "To the future," said Castle, raising his champagne high in the air as the others followed suit, "may it be truly blessed."

* * *

**_Well, that's it! The Four Winds series is over. Wow. I've been writing this for eight months. Wow. I'm not going to be posting anything new for a while. I need a *break*. For at least a week. :-P_**

**_I do, however, have a few last things to say. First: I have to post one last thank you and shout-out to all of you who have favorited, followed, and posted comments at some time during this course of this series. There's no way I could have made it to this point without you. Thank you for taking the leap of faith into my crazy imagination...and more importantly, thank you for helping me to believe that maybe it isn't so crazy after all._**

**_Second, this series may be over, but I can promise you that this is not the end of the Guardians. Not by a long shot. My next major project is going to be writing the origins story for Katya and the Temple Guardians. Since it will be a completely original story, I am going to post it all on FictionPress. The link can be found on my author page._**

**_And finally, this will not be the end of what many of you have dubbed the "Castle Guardians". I plan on writing some casual stories to announce when the Temple Guardians will start on FictionPress (after all, there are now three weddings in the pipeline...), and there are a few more ideas I've had. Including, as many of you have guessed, a Guardians/Avengers crossover. These stories will *not* be my first writing priority, but will be a way for me to kick back and relax when the Temple Guardians/Katya novel is stressing me out. So no whining if it takes me a while between posts. -)_**

**_Anyway, for now...thank you from the bottom of my heart. The fact that so many of you have enthusiastically shared in my imagination and loved it...that inspires me more than you could possibly know. I'm very much looking forward to reading your last comments._**

**_And may all your futures be blessed. :D_**


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